Given how easy it’s been to make zoodles, how about I try the latest vegetable makeover that’s been breaking the internet?  Sweet potato toast?  Not the kind using bread made out of zucchini  but the kind where raw slices of sweet potato are popped  into the toaster as you would a couple of slices of bread?

All of which explains these decidedly unglamorous keeping it real photographs of my attempt at making it for breakfast this morning.  The cause of creating gluten free toast wasn’t helped by the fact that I was both hangry and almost frozen on account of the cold snap that’s hit Sydney (the one that I’ve been complaining about since Friday).

It looked so simple.  All I had to do was slice my raw sweet potato into thinnish, even slices and pop them into my toaster.  I was planning to top my sweet potato toast with peanut butter, banana and cinnamon so I had everything laid out in anticipation of the rounds of perfectly toasted sweet potato slices I’d be creating with nothing but my toaster.

Well.  Sweet potato toast hasn’t only nearly broken the internet, in nearly broke my toaster.  I wasn’t counting on one of my slices wedging itself into the gap between the bread holding wires and the heating elements and it wasn’t long before I could see smoke and embers in my toaster.  A  bit of furious prodding (with toaster unplugged) saw three of my slices salvaged from the toaster.  The problematic fourth slice got wedged into a non heating crevice of the toaster and I’m hoping it will dry out and crumble out in coming days as only real bread gets toasted.

Twitter has since told me that baking sweet potato slices in the oven is a more reliable way of making the toast but in the heat of the hangry moment, I reached for my English muffins and embraced their gluten rich, highly refined carbiness.

Fortunately, the sweet potato toast debacle has been the only drama of the weekend.  A sense of calm has been restored in the manor kitchen with this new wall clock from Target.  The good news is that I got it for the bargain price of $10 (down from $20).  The not so good news?  Looking at how bare the homewares corner of my local Target was.  There’s been a major restructure in Target Australia’s management recently and it looks like stores are already clearing the decks in anticipation of the new more profit driven direction Guy Russo intends to take the chain.

I hope Designers for Target stays.  Ditto their always reliable range of licenced childrens wear and their nicely priced ladies knits.

As an aside, here’s what else you can buy for a tenner these days.  A measly ten postage stamps for the domestic mailing of standard letters.  It’s going to take me a very long time to simmer off the anger at the price hike.  By which time I reckon the rate will be up to around $1.50 per letter and then they’re likely to be only delivered once a week…  We need to keep snail mail going, Australia Post.  Letters are like books.  Part of modern civilisation that we cannot forget or allow to become obsolete.  Just my two cents (not the greatest metaphor seeing as one cent coins have been phased out in Australia).

It’s the unspoken rule of shopping at Target that you always reach the checkout with at least 400% more stuff than what you initially thought you needed.  Preschooler SSG scored a Thomas throw rug to make book time on the sofa more cozy.

As well as these, the official trackpants of ‘Finding Dory‘ Pixar’s latest blockbuster that is the sequel to Finding Nemo.  Dory is everywhere right now.  Our swimming school is doing a Dory promotion, Boost juice is featuring Dory and friends on their current range of sippy cups and here at SSG Manor 2.0, we’ve been making Dory and Nemo themed jelly cups.

It was our first trip to the cinema and it went rather well.  So well that Preschooler SSG managed to get a decent nap in the final third of the film.  Fortunately, I stayed awake for the full half and hour of ads and trailers (I actually enjoyed the wrap up of all the amazing new animation films coming out over the next few months, not to mention the clever car ads) as well as the film itself.

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I loved it!  The animation was a pleasure to watch.  It was so lifelike yet filled with gentle humour.  It goes without saying that the cast were pitch perfect and in case you were curious as to who the actors are, I found this article listing the main characters’ voices.

Have you seen ‘Finding Dory’?  Any other animation films out at the moment I should know about?