I am curious as to what advice Rouxbe users would give a novice cook. My pet peeve has become the instruction "serve immediately". My personality used to take this instruction literally and I have found that I could have saved myself considerable stress over the years if I hadn't felt the need to get a dish on the table within 30 seconds of making it. As an example, I was thinking of this tonight as I made our nightly salad. My second husband actually likes it to come to room temperature before serving and the dressing tossed about 5 minutes before serving. I have found that cut avocado will stay green at least 15 minutes or more and not crucial to "serve immediatley". Other examples apply to appetizers that I make ahead. Perhaps "serve immediately" does apply to things like souffles ( which I have not attempted) but my advice to new cooks would be to relax and not get too caught up into taking the instructions so literally.