I have been on a quest lately to make the ordinary special. Boxed brownies, when you make them with coffee instead of water? and butter. Not oil. You take them out 5 minutes before the box says to, and let them sit out for those 5 minutes. They keep cooking. I have added chocolate chips to them. I have frosted them, thickly frosted with chocolate icing. I make brownies just about every weekend and my grandsons always love them. But I admit it, these are my tricks to make them special and I love them too.
I have tried to make frozen pizza special. I use a pizza stone and turn my oven up to 500 degrees. The stone gets a layer of garlic butter (I add the minced garlic to the butter when I melt it). I dot the garlic butter all over the top and try to rub it along the edges of the pizza. Then I add extra toppings. Olives are my favorite. I will use half a jar of sliced green olives. I also have sliced mushrooms and added pepperoni. Then I cover the whole thing with extra cheese and a little more garlic butter, if there is any left. I cook it for about half the time the box says to. (I use Red Baron pizza a lot, but any frozen pizza will do.) Usually it cooks 15 minutes and I will remove it from the oven and let it sit, as well. The Kroger brand with the self rising crust has to sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking, so I just started letting all of them sit. It was a good idea. Then I slice and serve. Wow.
Simple things made special are important. Whether it’s brownies or frozen pizza, if I can improve it or make it better, it blesses my husband. He does the same for me. I don’t know if he knows that I notice, but today he is trimming our bushes and taking extra care with the shapes and the height and the cuttings. I so appreciate the care he is taking. It matters. He was muttering about a company that has integrated an Alexa device into the light switches last night. I have a feeling my Echo Dots might be going away soon. I’ve been noticing too, my daughter fighting with a painting, to make the perspective in it perfect. Most wouldn’t notice, but she knows.
I’m trying to do the same with my drafts. I’m on my second draft of book 2 right now and revision is slow, but careful. Right now I am working through an idea. The idea is a theme I want to dwell on and I’m looking for place to strengthen the theme. Adding little things. Details. In Sorrowfish, it was butterflies. I went back and added butterflies anywhere I could. Then I read the draft aloud.
It was important.