What Makes A House A Home?

They say that kitchens and bathrooms are the biggest determining factors in selling a home. Well, if you are staying in your home you need not worry about the features for re-sale. Instead you need to concern yourself with, "Does this kitchen fit my lifestyle?"

Granite countertops alone will not make a kitchen a great. Consider the layout. If you enjoy baking and cooking, are the oven/stove, refrigerator and baking cupboards in close proximity to each other so there is nice work flow? How about the mixer? Do you have room on the counter to pull it out? Where do you roll out pie crusts?

Think of your family. If you have children, is there a place for them to sit and do homework while you putter in the kitchen? Or is there a spot for your spouse to pull up a chair in the corner and visit or read? Is there room for more than one in the kitchen?

How about the bathroom? Do you want it strictly functional, as a place where you can run in and out of the shower? Or would you rather have it as a place you can go to relax in the tub?

There is all this and much more to consider when making your house a home.  Of course we know that when it comes right down to it, a house is made of four walls, and a home is made of love alone, but if you can, why not have a beautiful house to make your home?

TraVek, Inc. has inhouse designers to help you with all your home improvement needs. Email or call now to 480-367-1171.

Merry Christmas To You and Yours!

To Each One of our Valued Friends and Customers,

 

Wishing you every happiness this Christmas and Holiday Season and prosperity in the New Year. Thank you for the part you play in our lives and business. We look forward to continuing our relationship in the coming year.

All the best to you and your family,

Todd and all of us at TraVek

From Our Home to Yours This Christmas & Holiday Season...

Recipe of the Month... 

Prune tarts are a common Christmas treat in Finland, the land of most of TraVek's forefathers. This recipe is another one handed down by Grandma, and something that has been enjoyed in our homes forever and something we want to share with our friends and customers.

Finnish Prune Tarts

1 lb butter

Pinch of baking powder

¼ t salt

1 c cold water

1 egg yolk

4 c flour

Mix dry ingredients like a pie crust. Cut in  ½ lb butter. Mix egg yolk and water and mix into dry ingredients. Form the dough into an 8" x 5" rectangle. Refrigerate in a one-gallon ziplock bag for one day (or at least 6 hours).

Lightly dust your rolling surface with flour. Roll the dough into 9x13 or a slightly bigger rectangle. Don't actually divide the dough into thirds, but imagine it is divided into thirds. Spread 2 T butter on the middle third. Fold the bottom third over the center. Spread 2 T butter on top of that. Fold down the top third. You know have another rectangle lump of dough. Refrigerate for another day or at least 6 hours. Repeat this whole process of rolling the dough 3 more times (That means this entire process will take about four days).  Butter that has been sitting out 15 minutes makes it easy to spread.

On day three you want to make your prunes. Take about 13 oz. pitted prunes. Put in saucepan with enough water to cover the prunes. Boil until soft (about 2 hours). Stir occasionally and be careful not to scorch the bottom. You may need to add more water, depending on how dry the prunes are. Once the prune mixture is soft, but not runny, take it out and just put it in the refrigerator until you use it when forming the tarts on the 4^th day.

On day four you will take out your dough and cut it into 4 sections. Roll each section into a  ¼ " thickness rectangle. Cut into 3 ¼" squares. Put each square on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut slits from near the center to each corner, making sure not to have the slit come too close to the center so they fall apart.

Put a heaping teaspoon of prunes in the middle of each tart. Just as you would put together a little pinwheel, pick up every other edge, bring all four edge corners to the middle and turn. (Look at the picture link below that I found on Google...) When you turn it, make sure the ends stick well so the dough stays together when it's baking.

Bake in 400 degrees F for approximately 15 minutes if thawed. If frozen, bake 20 minutes until very light brown.

Let cool just a bit and then drizzle a very light frosting made of powdered sugar, couple drops of almond flavoring and water. You may also just sprinkle powdered sugar on the top if you don't want to glaze.

Makes 4 dozen.

Prune tarts freeze nicely and are most delicious when fresh out of the oven. If you want to make them ahead of time, form them, put on a cookie sheet and freeze them long enough to be firm. Then you can just put them in a gallon-size ziplock bag and freeze until you bake them just before serving.

This site has some nice pictures of the process. Even though the recipe is a little different, the pictures will give a more clear picture of how to form the tarts. CLICK HERE.

Sparkle Up Your Home For the Holidays!

In the past few weeks I have had a different sort of opportunity to learn something new. Among my wife's, sisters' and mom's friends, the women have gotten really excited about an eco-friendly cleaning product, Norwex. It was totally new to me, and being somewhat skeptical, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this product really has merit to it, and figured our customers and friends out there might enjoy it as well. Now is as good a time as any to tell you about this cleaning product since so many of you are probably starting to "sparkle up your homes for the holidays."

From what I understand there is some sort of silver within the fabric of the cloths, and that silver is a natural way to kill bacteria. If you go to the website itself, you'll see much more information about it, and if you're really interested, you are more than welcome to come to a presentation we have set up with a local consultant on Saturday, December 11 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Remember, for this and all your home improvement needs and design ideas, TraVek is here to help you from start to finish. Give us a call at 480-367-1171 or email us at info@travek.com.

Todd 


P.S. A couple weeks ago I went to visit my mom and dad's. Dad was sitting there at the kitchen table, had his feet up and was just looking quietly around the room. He said to take a look and notice how sparkly the granite countertops were. I did, and they certainly were beautiful. All because of just a rag and water. Under no uncertain circumstances did he leave any doubt in my mind that we need to offer this to our customers. He said to at least let you know a rag like this will work wonders on your granite countertops.

P.S.S. Please R.S.V.P. if you intend to attend the event where we will show this very fun and exciting product. We will plan to bring enough Finnish tarts and coffee for all who sign up! Email us at info@travek.com.

P.S.S.S. These make great Christmas gifts for anyone who likes a clean house!

Roofing Calls From Hail Storm Still Coming In!

It has been six weeks already and we are still getting roofing calls because of the intense hail storm that we had here in the Scottsdale, Tempe, Phoenix area. If you have a shingle or foam roof, pay special attention.

What we are seeing is that with the shingle roofs, the granules have been wiped right off! This is on brand new roofs, too! Your shingle roof will not hold up to shingles minus the granules! Walk around the perimeter of your house and take a look. Do you notice spots that are discolored? It might mean the granules are missing.

As for foam roofs, they took a royal beating! We are seeing some of the most beat up roofs we have seen in a long time. Again, it doesn't matter what age the roof is. The hail pounded the foam so hard that it tore up pieces of it all over the roof, and moisture has been allowed to get into the foam and destroy the integrity of your foam roof. Your foam roof will not protect you as it was designed to protect you; in fact, it will more than likely leak with another big storm.

Skylights are cracked, a/c units have been beaten so that the motor is having to work "overtime", thus wearing out your motors.

If you live in an area that had this destructive hail go through, and you have a foam or shingle roof, chances are very high that your roof has been compromised. At this point, roofing problems are typically insurance problems. Once it goes beyond that, it becomes a bigger problem that leads to more issues.

Now, don't you go climbing up on the roof. Unless you know a roof, you shouldn't be teetering around up there. Give us a call at 480-367-1171, and we'll come check it out.