Few things to remember while cooking are
If you have guests coming over, keep an order from home menu ready - just incase...
If you are new to cooking its always better to stick to Indian cooking. If something goes wrong it is easier to rectify.
Using lot of Onion and chilli powder is a good idea - this will mask the other problems ;-)
While peeling small onions, soak them in water. It becomes very easy to peel. Same goes for garlic.
While cutting big onions, cut them into two and put in water. So when you are slicing or chopping later your eyes wont water much.
Its always easier to boil and then peel the potato than other way around.
And it ia always ALWAYS advisible to store enough Maggi. No one can go wrong with Maggi.
more later