Welcome! This blog is for people like me who like their recipes talky. People who like terse recipes that fit on one side of an index card will not be interested.
I try to make my [revised, reorganized and annotated] recipes fit on one side of an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper, but sometimes that means switching to a small font. The reason the R3A2 recipes are so long is that I include all the advice I need to avoid making the mistakes I have made in the past, and all the hints I learn when I succeed with the recipe.
For example, I like to be told which ingredients go in the small bowl and which in the large. I also like the ingredients recited in order of use, with what you do to them right there next to them, rather than down the page somewhere where I'll miss it when I start doing things too quickly. I need to remind myself not to mix things that shouldn't be mixed, not to add things all at once if they are stirred in a little at a time, etc.
If I figure out that the best way to make something is to do some of the chopping early (say, the onions) and set that thing aside, by itself or, to save bowls, with something else that can be chopped or measured early, I make sure the recipe tells me. I also like to see the later reference to those ingredients in CAPS and without the measurement (as in "Now add THOSE ONIONS ...") so I can easily skim to see when I'll use them. And so on. You'll get the idea as I post more recipes.
If you like the recipes but prefer a shorter version, I generally say where I first found the recipe. If it's a website or a cookbook, you can go back and look at the original. If the recipe came from a friend or relative, and you want the index card version instead and I haven't happened to include it, please just let me know.
Thanks!
Roberta
