I'm a college graduate, learning how to cook for myself and for others. I enjoy cooking chicken and pork dishes. Chicken is versatile, and pork can be manipulated into a palette of flavors depending on what spices you use. I must admit though, discovering brining has really done the most to convince me of pork's virtues. One classic dish is skinless smoked sausage and mashed potatoes. We cut the sausage up into pieces and use them to make a face on the surface of the bowl of potatoes. Pasta shells stuffed with manicotti, and cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of ground beef and rice are another two family traditions. Cooking a pork loin that fell apart when you tried to carve it, and tasted delicious? Definitely a triumph, for a food that I'm used to being very dry. The first time I brined pork chops, I forgot to rinse them after removing them from the brine. They were...very salty. A cake I made recently used gel food coloring to achieve a rainbow effect; it turns out that using too much food coloring can make your cake resistant to baking.