Kia Ora team,

I am a people person so it has been hard not being able to meet our community face to face lately. So, I am on the phone, FaceTime, messenger, Zoom and email to check in on our Mangere community and see if they are ok. In the background, our team is working on how we keep moving things forward in this current environment.

My whānau have been able to settle down during this time of uncertainty, but don’t get me wrong, we still have our disagreements and challenges in our whare. Our whānau is a glass half full kind of family and we’ve been looking at what we can do to make the best out of the situation. Here are some of the things we’ve been up to:

• Teaching my kids how to cook ‘old school’ stews and baking (check out my no fail pancake recipe below).
• No wasting kai, if we don’t eat it tonight we’ll eat it sometime this week.
• Whānau catch ups and karakia time, and praying for our whānau and community.
• Podcasts, Ted Talks, church online, Spotify and Netflix in the evenings.
• Challenging ourselves to go one day a week without technology.
• And here’s an idea, go through your phone list and ring every person you know, ask how they are and tell them you care for them - don’t send chain messages, make it real and make it personal.

Albert’s ‘no fail’ pancake recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• Half cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• Cup of milk, add more if needed

Throw it all together and cook. You have to eat it with butter, jam or golden syrup. I love a tonne of butter and a nice cup of tea!

Take care, Albert