Basic cooking tips

I skimmed this video on basic cooking tips and learned a few things:

• Rice
• Rinse rice with cold water before cooking to avoid clumping. (I knew about rinsing but didn't know why it was necessary. And I think that because I didn't know the purpose, I never remembered to do it.)
• Use whole star anise and cardamom (cut in half). (I remembered that Indian rice recipes do this.)
• Pasta
• Add oil (forgot which one, probably olive oil) during boiling the water before adding pasta in order to avoid clumping. (I knew about adding olive oil but I thought it was to be added after having cooked the pasta.)