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4 Dia de Los Muertos 6 Is Your Home ready for Winter? 8 All About Apples 9
Caramel Apples
10
Reader’s Corner
12
Thanksgiving Decorating
13
Holiday Traditions
14
A Yummy Twist on Turkey
16
Thankful for my HOA
17
Volunteer
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This publication is provided for informational purposes only. SunWest Management does not endorse any of the businesses, products or services advertised herein and assumes no responsibility or liability for the statements made in this publication.
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Would you like your message to reach our customers? Contribute to magazine with educational articles, stories, or other content, or by advertising with us! Please contact collab@swmlife.com or 435-773-6456. Sandy Naylor has infused her creative passion as editor, writer, & designer into SunWest’s publications for over 12 years. She loves creating educational & entertaining products for our customers. sandy@swmlife.com
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Friends that feel like family
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Health! With reasonably good health , we can focus on the next amazing adventure or oppo rtunity before us….and enjoy every mile of our ride through life!
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By Diana Juarez, SunWest’s Ofrenda Specialist Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebration between November 1st and November 2nd, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. Though it may be close to the day, this is not a Mexican Halloween celebration. Traditionally, this holiday provides a time for family and friends to pray for and remember loved ones who have passed away. It is more of a celebration than a day of mourning. It has recently received a lot of attention due to movies like Assassins (1995) with Sylvester Stallone, 007-Spectre (2015) with Daniel Craig and now Disney’s Coco (2017). These films have amazing scenes with two different cultures and how Dia de Los Muertos is portrayed. Traditions and activities for this holiday vary from town to town. Some cities have parades where people dress up and have their faces painted to look like Sugar Skulls. Women look beautiful in their Folklorico wear, dressed to look like La Catrina, an iconic symbol for Day of the Dead. Others hold a more simple and private ceremony, hosting a dinner and taking the time to celebrate with family at home. Altars (ofrendas) are built in both homes and cemeteries. You will find them with offerings like water and food for the departed’s long journey, family pictures, and a candle for each dead relative. If one of the spirits is a child, you might find small toys on the altar. Tombstones are cleaned and decorated with bright-colored flowers like marigolds. The bright colors of the flowers and scent help the souls go from the spirit world Diana Juarez has 10 years of hospitality management experience, and it shows here in her work for SunWest. Her amazing sense of humor and passion to resolve any issue makes her a favorite with our clients. Reach Diana at dianaj@swmlife.com 4 l www.swmlife.com
to the living. My family starts celebrations on November 1st to remember the children that we have lost that year. When we have finished prayers at their tombstones, we start cooking for Dia de Los Muertos. Cooking is an all-day event, and food is precisely how I like it during this holiday - never-ending! We make tamales, posole, and delicious sweet bread called Pan De Muerto. We also make drinks like atole - a thin warm porridge made from corn flour, cinnamon, and vanilla - hibiscus iced tea, and pulque, a sweet fermented beverage made from agave sap. I sincerely think that anyone can celebrate this Holiday. If you want to take the time to remember a loved one with friends and family, I highly suggest hosting a Day of the Dead event at your home. Make dinner and ask people to bring a photo of the loved one, place the pictures on the table. During dinner, go around the table and have everyone say a fun memory. You can feel deeply connected to your lost one.
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Is Your Home Ready for
Winter?
Fall is officially here and our temperatures are dipping. Is your home ready for winter? St George doesn’t typically experience the extreme cold of more northern areas, but there are still important home maintenance steps to keep your home in top shape, safe and comfortable this winter. Make sure you take care of these items this Fall: 1. Change your smoke detector batteries - This is the season of candles, baking, turkeys in the oven and crock pots left on overnight. Sleep with the peace of mind that you will be alerted if anything doesn’t go according to plan. 2. Replace Your Air Filters – Your air filters had a tough job with the summer heat and dust, but it doesn’t get any easier for them this winter as we spend more time indoors, baking, and running our furnace and gas fireplaces. 3. Service Your Gas Fireplace - Gas fireplaces don’t experience the soot build-up that wood fireplaces do, but they still require periodic cleaning and inspection to prevent buildup and keep them functioning flawlessly. 4. Secure Outdoor Water Sources – Remove hoses from outdoor water spigots and make sure your backflow box is insulated.
SunWest Services can take care of all of these tasks for you! Contact us at 435-773-6456 or services@swmlife.com
Ask about our Fall Bundle Special! 6 l www.swmlife.com
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Fall Planting Time is running out! If you’ve been planning to put in new plants this fall, now is the time! Fall is an excellent time to plant as new plants benefit from the cooler months to become established and spread roots in their new home, giving them the best possible start in the spring.
Gas Fireplace Cleaning Enhance the warmth of your home. We’ll clean your fireplace’s vents, glass, and logs to ensure your fireplace is in tip-top shape for the coming chilly weather!
Call us for all your home and landscape needs!
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Hooray for
By Sandy Naylor, SunWest’s Malus Guru Nothing says Fall like a fresh, crisp apple. In addition to being mighty tasty, apples contain lots of healthy nutrients! Eating apples can aid in lowering cholesterol and boosting cardiovascular health due to the antioxidants they contain. Eat apples plain, slab peanut or almond butter on them for a healthy snack, include them in main dishes, sides, or in a dessert! They can even help you with your weight goals due to the amount of soluble fiber contained can help you feel fuller, longer. Best of all, there are all kinds of apples that offer different flavor profiles to fit every taste bud! Cortland - sweet, slightly tart and juicy. They are excellent for baking; in pies, muffins, cakes and breads. These apples do not brown quickly so they’re perfect for a fruit salad or fruit plate. Empire - sweet, crisp, tart and juicy. They are best when roasted, baked or sautéed. Eat them plain or slice them for salads; use them for baking recipes, in pies and sauces. Fuji - crisp and sweet. They are considered too juicy for baking but are best used for salads and slaws. Use them as a natural sweetener for oatmeal, cereal and yogurt. Gala - slightly sweet and are delicious raw, sliced into salads, paired with chicken dishes or used in desserts. These apples contain flavonoids and antioxidants which have been shown to help reduce the risk of cancer and inflammation, as well as boost brainpower and protect brain cells. Granny Smith - crisp, juicy and tart. They are the apple to use when you want to add some crunch and tartness to a dish. These apples are often the best choice for cooking. Honeycrisp - crisp and juicy, and a popular choice due to their sweetness. These apples are best used in salads, baking, and cooking dishes.
Looking for a scrumptious apple treat? Try McIntosh - This is an all-purpose apple. They are versatile and can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. McIntosh is the Brian’s homemade apple you want when making apple butters and applesauce. caramel apples! (We always secretly hope Red/Golden Delicious - sweet and juicy, better for eating fresh he brings some in and in salads than in baking recipes. to share with the office – they are Rome - crunchy and mildy sweet. They hold well when baked. de-lici-ous!) Use with meat, in quiches, stuffing, pies, cakes, breads, and cookies.
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Caramel Apples
By Brian Webster, Underground Candy Maker A favorite treat in our house is caramel apples. We especially love to make them in the fall when fresh apples are locally available. The real secret to the best caramel apples is home-made caramel! Here’s the recipe we use: Caramel (single batch will do 5-6 apples) 1 stick salted butter 1 cup Karo syrup 2 cups (packed) brown sugar 1 can sweetened condensed milk
Other - Apples, of course! (We like the sweet/tart combo of Honeycrisp) Flat popsicle sticks - stab them into the apples so you can spin them in the caramel Toppings - White chocolate, cinnamon-sugar, oreos, mini M&Ms, chopped nuts, etc.
Melt the butter into the Karo and add the brown sugar. Once boiling, add the milk slowly so the mix keeps boiling. The knack is to know how much to heat the caramel so that it is the right consistency. Boil it for only a minute or two and it stays too soft to hold onto the apple - but this is perfect for caramel popcorn! If you cook it too long, it can get too hard when it sets. I like to test the caramel as it is cooking by dropping some (a teaspoon or two is enough) into a bowl of ice water. Once it cools enough to handle, you can grab it to get a good idea of how firm the caramel will be when it sets. Simply heat the caramel until the cooled chunks are the right firmness for you. Now the hard part is done! Set the caramel aside to cool for a bit and prep the apples by washing and towel drying them to remove any retail wax so the caramel will stick better. I like to use flat popsicle sticks rather than round. The round sticks tend to spin in the apple when you are turning the apple in the caramel. We use parchment paper on cookie sheets to rest the apples on. You can easily peel the caramel off the parchment once cooled. When dipping the apples, I like to use a rubber spatula to wipe off the caramel on the lower sides and the bottom of the apple. It will settle some and re-cover the area. If it’s cool enough, set the apples outside to set, otherwise have some space ready in the fridge. Once the caramel is cooled, if a little forming of the caramel is needed, use a little cooking spray on your hand so you don’t stick to the caramel. If you are adding any toppings directly on the caramel, do it before the caramel sets to be sure they stick to the caramel - unless you are doing a layer of chocolate. In that case you’ll want the caramel to be completely cooled and set, then the melted chocolate will layer, instead of mixing with the caramel. When the chocolate is still warm/soft, add any other toppings you’d like, our favorite is cinnamon-sugar. They’ll keep best in the fridge, but the caramel will still go grainy after 5-6 days. Enjoy! Brian Webster is the Controller for SunWest Management. He maintains designations with the IMA and CAMICB, as a Certified Management Accountant and Certified Manager of Community Associations, respectively. You can reach Brian at brian@swmlife.com. www.swmlife.com l 9
Reader’s Corner Fun Poll Results!
72
%
Either Joseph wrote a VERY convincing article last month, or our readers just don’t like Candy Corn.
of our readers prefer a different kind of candy over Candy Corn.
When do you put up your Christmas Lights? Click
After Halloween
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Thanksgiving Weekend
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Sometime in December
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Thanksgiving Cute & Easy
Napkin Rings
By Casey Ritter, SunWest’s Decorating Superstar Looking for a special, personal touch to spice up your holiday table? Try creating napkin rings from scratch using items you have around the house. Not only are you recycling, but you are making something pretty and customized for each guest. If you have children attending, this is a great, entertaining craft that gives them something to do while you concentrate on cooking. Just cut toilet paper rolls into thirds and get creative! Wrap the rolls with burlap, ribbon, or yarn, and top it with a scrabble tile, button, or beads. Use a hot glue gun to keep everything in place. We’d love to see a picture of your homemade napkin rings! Email them to collab@swmlife.com
As the Event Coordinator for SunWest Management, Casey infuses her creativuty into the activities and events she plans for our communities. She is a former dancer with the Rocky Mountain Repertory Ballet, and loves meeting people and creating friendships. caseyr@swmlife.com 12 l www.swmlife.com
By Joseph Brimer, SunWest’s Human Search Engine I was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) enough to grow up in a blended family. We found out very quickly just how challenging it would be to balance and blend traditions. I realized this challenge once again when I married my wife, and she had her own ideas of celebration. One tradition that was always my favorite growing up (and one I now insist we continue with my son), was receiving a tree ornament from my parents every year. The idea behind it was that the ornament would represent something powerful or an accomplishment I had that year. Then, when I had a family of my own, I would be able to decorate a tree with personal ornaments and tell my children the story and meaning behind each one. While my time to receive ornaments may be over, I enjoy giving my son an ornament each year, and that made me wonder what holiday traditions are celebrated elsewhere. In Venezuela, everyone roller skates to Christmas mass. While no one is sure why or how this tradition was started, the children are woken by the sound of firecrackers and strap on their roller skates. The Government even closes the roads down until 8am so that everyone can skate safely. Sounds to me like someone was just late and needed an excuse to
get there fast. Afterword, as is with Venezuelan culture, families get together for a delicious meal and dancing. From late November to late January, you can consider it standard to see people caroling with a horse skull on their head. A Wales tradition brought from ancient Celtic Rites is meant to bring about good luck. Mari Lywd is the tradition of someone dressing up with a horse skull on their head and caroling with a group of friends in exchange for food and beverage. If you’re looking for a way to set up your Christmas tree now and not listen to people tell you you’re not giving Halloween and Thanksgiving it’s proper share, Ukraine has you covered. The folklore tells the story of a family that grew a tree from a pinecone and were too poor to decorate it. One morning the children woke up to a beautiful web spun around the branches, and so the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree with spider webs was born. This would work great as a Halloween tradition that could easily transition to a Christmas tree when it becomes “socially acceptable” to have a tree up early enough. So, whether you’re struggling to blend traditions or looking to spice up the holiday season; these different spins on tradition have you covered. What’s some of your favorite traditions? Let us know by sending your traditions to collab@swmlife.com
Joseph Brimer is a Resident Specialist at SunWest Management. If you have a question about your Member Portal, compliance, architectural review or governance, he has the answer! He relishes being a problem solver, so he’s a perfect fit for the SunWest team! Contact Joseph at josephb@swmlife.com www.swmlife.com l 13
A Yummy Twist on
Thanksgiving Turkey
By Nick Boulton, SunWest’s Undisputed Smoking Champ My family is big into cooking, and we have tried a lot of turkey recipes over the years; from wrapping the meat in bacon or pineapple, to soaking it in a soda mixture or apple cider, to injecting it with brown sugar or creole butter, we have tried about everything. But one tip we absolutely swear by is brining, especially if we are planning on using a smoker to cook our turkey. Why? Generally, when you use a smoker, you’re cooking at low temperatures to allow the smoke to season the meat and keep it juicy – the dreaded dry meat is a common problem with turkey. Brining the meat beforehand will help inhibit any bacteria growth that could happen when cooking at such a low temperature, but honestly, the main reason to brine is that it adds a lot of flavor to your turkey since turkey needs a little help due to the fact that it doesn’t have a lot of natural fat to lock in flavor and juices during cooking. Give this simple recipe a try this year and watch your relatives flock to the table!
Brining You’ll need a non-corrosive container that your turkey will fit in. I use either a stock pan or an old cooler that I specifically only use for brining, but any container will do, I’ve even seen my Dad use a 5 gallon bucket before! You’ll need to keep everything cool during the brining time, so if you don’t have room in the fridge for the container, keep in mind that you will need to add ice and stir every couple hours.
1. Make the brine:
• Use one cup of coarse salt per one gallon of water (substitute half of the water for apple cider if you like those cider notes). Make enough brine to completely cover your bird. (4 gallons of water usually covers a 12 lb. turkey in our container.) • Bring about 1 gallon of water to a boil and add all the salt. Simmer until the salt has completely dissolved, then you can add the rest of the water. • Completely cool the brine, then add the turkey (Add ice to cool the brine faster). When Nick Boulton joined SunWest Management as our Landscape Coordinator he brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. He is a great resource to have in your back pocket. If you would like help with your yard or have questions about plants, Nick would love to connect with you. You can reach Nick at services@swmlife.com or 435-773-6456. 14 l www.swmlife.com
2. Add the rest of your flavorings to the brine.
(We used lemons and oranges in this recipe to help sweeten and tenderize the meat, while allowing the other spices and sweeteners to penetrate the turkey.) • 2 cup brown sugar • 2 oranges, cut into slices • 2 lemons, cut into slices • 16 cloves of garlic, smashed or diced • 4 oranges, juiced • 4 lemons, juiced • 8 TBSP full peppercorns • 8 bay leaves • 12 sprigs of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley
3. Brine your turkey for one hour per pound
• If you’ve got a 12-18 lb bird, you can brine throughout the night to get it to 12-18 hours. The time is the same whether you are doing the whole bird, or just a breast. (i.e. If you have a 5 pound breast, brine it for 5 hours.)
Cooking the Turkey • About 30 minutes before cooking your turkey, remove it from your brine mix and rinse it under cold water, place it onto a cooking sheet or large plate and pat it dry with paper towels. • After patting it dry, you can add any spices that you would like to help season it further. I generally use a poultry mixture from the store.
Your turkey is now ready to cook!
We used a smoker for this recipe, but at this point your can use any cooking process you choose – baking, frying, smoking, etc. • For this 12 lb. turkey, we cooked it in the smoker at 250 degrees for 4 hours (roughly 30 minutes a pound) or until it reached 165 degrees in the breast. I like to use a mixture of Red Oak, Maple and Hickory for our wood. We also chose to spatchcock our turkey. Spactchcocking, or butterflying, is when you cut out the backbone of the bird to lay it flat. Doing this reduces the overall cooking time and allows the bird to cook more evenly throughout all of the meat.
We hope you have a great Thanksgiving! www.swmlife.com l 15
1. Someone else takes care of my yard! 2. The community is designed for enjoying the outdoors and meeting other residents 3. There is someone I can call when I need help with my home. 4. Awesome facilities I get to use! 5. Standards…no need to worry about old cars parked on the lawn. 6. There are so many wonderful things to do, everyone I meet is having fun. 7. The community and facilities are beautifully maintained. 8. Easy access to fitness classes and equipment has made me healthier. 9. Shared expenses means higher value for a reasonable cost. 10. Peace of mind…knowing all this will be mine for years to come! 16 l www.swmlife.com
Who is ...and what makes us us special? SunWest Management specializes in helping you develop and promote a strong sense of community and harmony in your community. Prudent financial management, the best governance practices and maintenance strategies, yeah, we’re good at that too! We work with you to keep your property values high and your community thriving. Our digital magazine is another way we share our passion and commitment to serve community associations everywhere. Read on for best practices, tips and offers to enhance your home and community! For over 20 years, SunWest has supported association boards and the communities they serve to achieve their goals. By taking care of the heavy lifting, we make it enjoyable and even fun for resident volunteers to lead and contribute. And our efficient management pricing model ensures your community will receive the highest value! Contact us today to discover how your community can start living the SunWest Life!
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Learn more about these and many more volunteer opportunities at www.justserve.org
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