10 favorite foods to cook

I recently read an article that I had clipped from the newspaper a long time ago about cooking. It basically said that rather than trying to master every recipe you try (unless you cook better than I do), to try and master 10 dishes. They don't have to be some over complicated, gourmet-type dish...just some that you enjoy and maybe you could make for company. I remember my friend Deborah telling me that her mom had a special menu that she whipped up really quick if her husband called and said he was bringing someone home for dinner. It wasn't fussy...just some simple beef dish...but it was fool-proof! I haven't decided exactly what my "specialties" will be but living in Florida, they have to include seafood, at least for a few of them. I'm pretty sure I want to "perfect" my favorites of all time, crab cakes and coconut shrimp. I have a simple but tasty recipe for lemon butter tilapia so maybe that can go with seafood night. I'll probably also go with a great pasta dish but haven't narrowed it down yet. (Taylor makes the most awesome bruschetta so that appetizer is taken care of.) Maybe I'll do it in themes...seafood/italian/asian. Or maybe that complicates it. That leaves me with 7 dishes to learn to make perfectly. Having just turned 45, that's one of my goals. Probably the easiest so let's hope I accomplish it.