Over the course of the second half of this week, Te Rongopai received three bouquets of flowers – two from Pita, and one from Boyd.
It’s pretty hilarious. I guess Pita thinks that if he sends enough flowers, then she’ll forgive him for the affair? Yes, sending flowers is much better than actually visiting in person and making an actual effort. Good riddance, though. Pita was a terrible character.
Boyd also regaled Te Rongopai with some cookies decorated like different planets, which she wasn’t too enthusiastic about either.
Esther also received a bouquet of flowers from Kawe for some reason. She wasn’t terribly impressed.
Does anyone think that Sebastian might secretly be the one buying all these flowers? He’s always so thrilled when he passes them along.
In other news, Frank hired a goon to attack Dylan, but then Dylan paid him off. Then Frank took a crack at attempting to kill Dylan as well after seemingly becoming possessed. He then skipped town after saying goodbye to Kylie.
What the hell was that about? I know Frank can be dodgy, but I thought this was totally out of character. Plus it was played like Dylan was capable of some sort of mind control by egging him on until he cracked.
If this was meant to be Frank’s exit storyline, I’m going to be pissed. I guess Vinnie’s exit storyline was pretty shitty, so I wouldn’t put it past them to do something similar here. Not that I’m at all rooting for Kylie and Frank as a couple. I’ve never bought their “great love” story.
Remember when Frank was just that hot barman at the IV?
It would have been much more realistic for them to have a disastrous breakup shortly after marrying, since they rushed into marriage after being together for barely two weeks. Yet instead they shoved this ‘great love’ storyline down our throats. Ugh. I feel like they never really knew what to do with him, because his storylines have been all over the place.
At first I was totally prepared to cringe when “Sebastian” again graced us with his presence this week, but the whole thing is played in such a ridiculous and hilarious way that I’m loving it. He’s also such a busybody.
In case you’ve forgotten, Jason, or “Sebastian” as he now calls himself, was the orderly who stalked Finn and kidnapped Esther a year ago.
Now he’s shown up again at the hospital, having applied to become the new admin assistant while Leanne is gone.
What the hell?
Needless to say Jack and Damo were pretty confused when “Sebastian” said he’d changed his name and that “Jason was a total screw up, I had to get rid of him”.
Damo’s reaction was pretty funny.
Sebastian: “I was gonna apologise to each and every one personally. I mean, they’ll see that I’m genuine.”
Damo: “Yeah, try that on Dr. Finnbar Warner, aka loose cannon.”
Jack: “Or Esther. You carjacked her and left her for dead!”
Sebastian: “Don’t worry, that was Jason.”
He later told Te Rongopai and Esther some bizarre story about having been left alone at home when he was five.
Esther and T were a little unsure how to react
“I had to live off, like, baked beans and oranges for like two days! Recovered memories, so I didn’t even know this!”
Of course, Esther quickly forgave him and Te Rongopai gave him the job, most likely at least partially because his presence irritated Finn.
He also made two rather hilarious references.
Te Rongopai: “I’ll call you tomorrow with my final decision.”
I’m dead. I bet Paula Bennett is rather embarrassed about this now that Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister. Maybe that’s why she’s always so snitty in Parliament?
Thank goodness Sebastian is here. We really need a new busybody while Leanne is in Indonesia.
Leanne continued her campaign to become leader of her psychic group, but wound up losing.
Rangimarie was almost run down by a rogue skateboarder..
Oh wait, it’s Ezra!
Does anyone remember Ezra? He was the son of the former leader of the Followers of the Light, who mysteriously disappeared after that whole mass suicide disaster. Anyway, it turned out that Ezra was “up north”, presumably with Tillie, Eric Miller, etc. Where are all these “up north” people anyway? Are they in Whangarei?
Is it me or does he look way more mature now? Anyway, he promptly suggested that TK and Te Rongopai become a couple. I’m not sold on that idea.
Speaking of Eric Miller, he is apparently not “up north” anymore, as at the end of the week it is revealed that he’s been arrested in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
Leanne promptly left to see him, which means we won’t be seeing her for a while, likely for a few months. I already miss her. Leanne, please come back soon!
Everything about this storyline was amazing. Harper insisting on a home birth, Drew asking Leanne to get involved in the preparation process so that Harper would change her mind, Harper faking contractions while sitting in that weird pool, Drew, Boyd and Harper finding out that Billy is intersex, …
“Ooh your aura, it’s horribly… unbalanced.”
“We can’t have that.”
“May I suggest a shamanic mineral rakey massage, stat!”
I especially loved how they incorporated Harper’s close friendship with Nicole – let’s not forget that it was only four years ago that they were a couple!
And Boyd and Drew shared a great scene too. It’s so rare that we get to see Drew get emotional.
It’s refreshing to see Drew so vulnerable. Who would have expected that he would ever call himself an “emotionally stunted nightmare”?
I also appreciated the mention of Boyd’s twins. When are they going to tie up all the loose ends in that storyline? I would love for Eve to make another appearance soon. It’s already been a year since she fled town with Remus and Romulus.
Let’s recap what Zoe has done since showing up in Shortland Street:
She applied for a job as Chris’ PA after embellishing her resumé. Then it became very clear that she was unqualified.
After being threatened with dismissal, she faked cancer.
She then used this fake cancer as leverage to seduce Chris, and he only found out after Kate told him.
She lied some more about her ex-fiance being abusive.
Chris forgave her for all of this, but she still fell in love with someone else – his son, Finn.
Also, remember when she first showed up as Nicole and Vinnie’s entitled “Room Rover” guest?
(Yes, that was just after Leanne found out that she had osteoporosis).
In my opinion, the most memorable thing about the character was her throwaway line after the Followers of the Light debacle.
“I know what you guys are going through. I was in London, like, two bombings ago. Horrendous.”
Also, is it me, or is she on every single episode? Girl, shut it down. Go on holiday for two months or something.
Anyway, onto other things.
Dawn had a horrible week.
Dylan dumped her after accusing her of being a “grief vampire” (is that a thing?).
Then she was attacked by the mysterious serial rapist who is on the loose.
But the highlight of this week was this:
This storyline has finally fallen into place after months of nothing happening. Now Frank is really in a quandary – if he continues to investigate Dylan, he’ll probably lose Kylie, which is exactly what Dylan wants. Now can we have more of this, and less of Zoe, please?
Leanne had some interesting material this week too. Am I the only one who likes her bizarre spiritual/psychic group?
I loved Nicole’s reference to PM Jacinda Ardern while Leanne was discussing challenging the leadership in her psychic group. “Alright, Jacinda.”
Leanne really loves her bizarre metaphors doesn’t she? “I like to catch my flies with honey.”
First, the recipe. A while ago I attempted to make vegan sushi with a friend, and it was a success!
For the tomato “tuna” we used this recipe except we soaked the “tuna” slices in a combination of flaxseed oil and kelp powder.
After following their steps for four medium sized tomatoes, add the tomato slices to a bowl and add 1 tsp kelp powder and a few tablespoons of flaxseed oil (use olive oil if you don’t have flax oil).
Stir until all the tomato slices are covered.
Let marinate in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
Then spread on a baking sheet. Preheat oven at lowest setting (~80°C for my oven) and leave it in for one or two hours until the texture is more like raw fish and less juicy (I was impatient and only left it in for 30 minutes and it was fine, but longer would be better I think).
For the “California” roll, we used vegan seaweed “fish”, which I found at my local vegan grocery. We roasted it in the oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes from frozen, shredded it, and placed it in a bowl. If you cannot find vegan fish, use some sort of vegan “chicken” and shred it finely. Gardein chick’n strips would probably work just fine. Then add a bit of vegan mayo and stir together in a bowl.
Take your sushi rolling device and cut a piece of clingfilm to wrap around it.
Then place a nori sheet on the sushi rolling device, and press some prepared sushi rice on it. Make sure to cover the whole nori with rice, but don’t make it too thick! We tried to make the rice layer as thin as possible, but upon eating it, we decided that there was still probably a bit too much rice in it.
Then flip it over onto the clingfilm wrapped roller.
After flipping, make a layer of sliced avocado and some of the vegan fish mixture close to the side which you will roll from.
Then carefully and slowly turn the nori over the sushi filling until it is completely rolled.
Then place the pieces of the tomato tuna on top, and slice. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi.
Continue reading for Shortland Street….
As you may know, I am a huge fan of Shortland Street, so we will be discussing this on the blog heaps.
Shortland Street has been epic the past couple of months.
Zoe got a job as Chris Warner (the CEO of the hospital)’s PA and quickly decided that they were meant to be together. So, like any normal person, upon finding out that he had recently gone into remission after treatment for leukemia, she faked cancer.
Her sister, Kate, eventually found out about this and threatened to tell Chris. Of course, this scene happened right outside Chris’ office, so he heard them yelling.
A very dramatic cliffhanger ensued.
Kate finding out that Zoe lied about the cancer
She eventually did tell Chris. Of course, both he and Kate both forgave Zoe within a week. Mo (Kate’s boyfriend) was the only one who harboured resentment towards her. He’s the only one who’s been sensible about all this.
Mo’s reaction
Zoe then got pregnant by Chris. After this, Chris found out about another set of lies that she had told him (pretending that her ex-fiance was abusive, etc) and cut off their relationship.
Then more drama ensued.
Zoe and Chris found out that their baby had a high chance of having Down syndrome. Chris said all the wrong things to her afterwards, assuming that she would want an abortion – “There are other options if you don’t want to have this baby”.
As a result she found support from Finn, Chris’ son, and they grew close.
She became very concerned about the pregnancy after visiting Chris’ disabled sister Amanda. She later ran into the chief of the medical council that had suspended Finn after finding out about his drink driving (he ran over Nicole!).
Zoe conveniently recommended that the chief have dinner at the IV pub ‘across the road’, where Finn works. As a result, the chief would see him working as a waiter, and also see that he was humbled by his suspension.
Amazingly, this worked and the medical council immediately reinstated him and now he can go back to work as a surgeon.
Finn in glee after being reinstated
Of course, right after this, Finn and Zoe grew even closer and then kissed (ugh).
What followed were a series of awkward scenes – one in which Zoe was defending Finn but ended up saying “I just want to see those hands do more than pour drinks”.
Kate returned from her very long trip with Mo, and immediately guessed that there was someone else that Zoe was interested in.
Kate can’t believe how immature her sister is
She found out that her bed had been used, and accused Zoe of sleeping in it with someone.
In other news, Harper finally gave birth and she and Drew are loving their new roles as parents.
Harper and Drew with Billy
And there is a hot new doctor in town, Lincoln (Link!)
New ED registrar, Link
Within the course of one week, Jack (left, above) got together with a guy called Connor, found out that Link and Connor were a couple, and revealed that he was the “other man” that Connor had cheated on Link with.
Link blamed himself for Connor’s cheating, and then Connor broke up with him after Link decided that he couldn’t do the whole open relationship thing.
What followed was an odd scene in which Link said to Jack:
“On the bright side I get to keep you.”
“What?”
“In the breakup. He gets the good armchair and the nonstick frying pan, but I get Jack.”
Huh?
“I don’t know how to feel about that.”
Soon after, Nicole, Jack and Link go out clubbing. Link and Nicole bond over their recent breakups (Nicole’s marriage to Vinnie has recently dissolved).
In a shocking twist, Nicole and Link have sex, after shooting up MDMA or whatever one does with MDMA.
The really gross part is that they have sex in Mo and Kate’s bed after going home with Jack. And Jack walks in on them. Ugh.
Leanne (Nicole’s mum) catches Nicole sneaking home, and figures out that she’s been with someone.
“Where were you?”
“Um, at at the IV and club.”
“Oh, is that where you took your dress off?”
Needless to say, she’s not impressed. She demands to know who it was, under the pretext that she needs to know whether it was a man or a woman in case Nicole is on “that slippery slide back to lesbianism” because she claims it might be “confusing” to Nicole’s 3 year old son.
Nicole refuses to tell her, so she assumes it was a woman.
Leanne’s disapproval
Leanne’s been on a roll this week.
The next day, Leanne continues to prod her – “You’re only this secretive when there is a woman involved!”
Nicole later tells her that her one night stand was with a gay man.
It’s all very shocking. Then Leanne finds Nicole hugging Jack, and thinks that she was with him, even though Jack is only 19 years old! Or, as Leanne says, “he’s a baby, a gay baby”.
Being the busybody of the show, she prods Jack about it. “I saw you at the bar last night, and your body language was X rated.”
She tells Kate and Mo about this.
WTF?
Then they confront Jack about this. He insists it is false, but they don’t believe him, so he asks Nicole to confirm.
Nicole is horrified
She admits that it was her and “Dr Smartass” (Mo’s saying).
