Also, my family had a recipe sweet potato casserole that included toasted marshmallows on top. But it was a special thing you could only cook Christmas and Thanksgiving.
I was sort of thrown for a loop when I learned - at age twenty - that it is possible to buy cans of cranberry sauce even when it is not almost Thanksgiving.
I have had an unknown, but large, number of such reactions, where the smartest thing I could think to say was "you can MAKE !??!" Reading Lifehacker gave me that reaction dozens of times before I grew desensitized to the makeability of things. But seriously, you can MAKE dog treats?!!
Today I learned that you can toast marshmallows in the oven.
By "learned", I mean "I read a recipe which included as a step toasting marshmallows in the oven". I didn't have to try it out to realize that this would obviously work. It was plain as soon as I heard the idea. And it shouldn't have needed pointing out. I know how ovens work. I am familiar with the marshmallow species of food. I love roasted marshmallows while hating them in most other forms and often occurrently lament the difficulty of arranging open flames over which one may safely toast them. I routinely try new things in the kitchen to get results I want.
And yet I read it, and was surprised. And so were the people I reported this finding to. It needed pointing out.
What other facts need pointing out, although they are plain on inspection? What is the pattern behind these facts and a good way to find more?