Statutory Interpretation and Cooking

I often have problems switching between modes of reading and writing. Quite often, when I'm taking notes on various cases in Microsoft Word, I'll make futile attempts to italicize case names using HTML brackets: [code]Brandenburg v. Ohio[/code] This probably happens once a day at least. Similarly, last night I was making this recipe for an easy alfredo sauce, and got very hung up on the instructions:

Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps.

You see that period after "whisk until smooth"? Well I stopped reading right there, and sat trying to whisk the cream cheese itself until smooth. Hopeless. Futile. Finally I read it again, and realized that I was suppose to "whisk until smooth" while adding the milk a little at a time. How outrageous! Why don't the instructions say that? There should be a comma, or at most a semi-colon; surely not a period. I'm beginning to think I place too much emphasis on these punctuation marks. I think statutory interpretation is to blame.