Cooking is a fun experience, for about the first 30 seconds. Then it is a miserable time for about three weeks, and then it is fantastic again. This is because almost everything you learn about cooking comes from making a terrible mistake that ruins the entire thing. One mistake that seems to always be persistent, and is somehow uniquely profound, is making the pan non-stick before cooking. We are so anxious to get started on our next culinary masterpiece, that we forget that science is a concept that nature responds to, and putting some cooking spray and/or butter on that pan is going to prevent a difficult situation. The more general lesson here is to always think before you act, and there is tremendous value in having the patience to check (and double-check) your work before getting started.