About - Background and Process

Good evening all, and happy holidays!

I have always been a fan of Christmas--even being raised in an atheist household, we still celebrated the holiday, and many of my fondest memories come from the general atmosphere that the holiday creates. I love giving presents, spreading cheer, winter fashion, and just that overall happy, warm, holiday feeling to share with friends, acquaintances, strangers, and families alike. This time of year just makes me happy, even if it's a bit warmer than how I usually imagine the holiday season down here in Florida.

This semester, after moving out of my old house and into an apartment for college, I also discovered a love for cooking. I'm not the best at it by any means, but if I have an opportunity to make something new I take it. I look up to people who know their way around a kitchen, and I think I aspire to be such a person myself. I love the presentation of new food, experimenting with substitutes, learning new cooking styles, and most of all savoring in the delectability of the stuff that turns out well.

The "advent calendar" tradition is one I am pretty fond of, having had history with the concept in both candy and LEGOs. For this holiday season, considering my newfound enjoyment of cooking and the importance of the holidays to me, what better way to celebrate the month of December than with a cooking advent calendar? Thus I'm planning on embarking on the biggest food-making journey of my life in what I've decided to coin "Dishmas."

The process isn't as simple as "make a new dish every day." While exciting, that would be a little vague for me. I have trouble making decisions about things when there are a lot of options, and what dish to cook is definitely a part of that.
So I decided to use my own criteria to narrow it down, in a way that I hope will get my creative juices flowing while I'm working in my apartment's slightly cramped kitchen, and capture the relation to the people around me that is so important to me this time of year..
I created a template task for each day: "Make a ______ (dessert/dinner/lunch/breakfast/snack/brunch) based on a _______'s (family member/close friend/friend/crush*/teacher/stranger) favorite _______ (movie/music/holiday special/cooking technique/ingredient/tv show)." Using dice to decide which option would go in what blank on each day, I created quite the list for myself--and materials to work off of to make 25 new foods in 25 days leading up to Christmas.

Friends, family, strangers reading this blog: Merry Dishmas. May the foods be ever in your favor.

*I should probably clarify what this means since this is public information on the internet--I don't really do romance in the way a lot of people see it--for me, the connections I have to close friends feel strong enough to be considered romantic by some but I prefer to consider them my friends still. Because of that, 'crush' here is not used in the sense of a romantic crush, but rather 'someone I really want to be close to but get nervous trying to connect with.' 

 The list, in case you want a reference, looks a little like this: 
Dec 1 - Make a dessert based on a family member's favorite music.
Dec 2 - Make a dinner based on a stranger's favorite holiday special.
Dec 3 - Make a breakfast based on a friend's favorite ingredient.
Dec 4 - Make a lunch based on a family member's favorite cooking technique.
Dec 5 - Make a dinner based on a friend's favorite ingredient.
Dec 6 - Make a breakfast based on a crush's favorite holiday special.
Dec 7 - Make a lunch based on a stranger's favorite movie.
Dec 8 - Make a dinner based on a teacher's favorite ingredient.
Dec 9 - Make a breakfast based on a stranger's favorite holiday special.
Dec 10 - Make a brunch based on a friend's favorite cooking technique.
Dec 11 - Make a snack based on a teacher's favorite ingredient.
Dec 12 - Make a dinner based on a family member's favorite cooking technique.
Dec 13 - Make a lunch based on a teacher's favorite music.
Dec 14 - Make a brunch based on a family member's favorite TV show.
Dec 15 - Make a dessert based on a teacher's favorite cooking technique.
Dec 16 - Make a snack based on a friend's favorite ingredient.
Dec 17 - Make a brunch based on a close friend's favorite music.
Dec 18 - Make a snack based on a teacher's favorite cooking technique.
Dec 19 - Make a breakfast based on a stranger's favorite music.
Dec 20 - Make a lunch based on a close friend's favorite TV show.
Dec 21 - Make a brunch based on a close friend's favorite holiday special.
Dec 22 - Make a dinner based on a crush's favorite movie.
Dec 23 - Make a breakfast based on a family member's favorite holiday special.
Dec 24 - Make a dessert based on a close friend's favorite ingredient.
Dec 25 - ????

Note: The same family member/friend/etc. cannot be used more than once.