Mandy DeGeit's Blog

My life fell apart in the last few years.
Covid was fine, but the years that followed after 2020, definitely went to hell.

Things went wrong, like everything.

I lost pretty much all things, my health failed, my marriage shit the bed, and found myself in financial ruin again… the usual mid-life crisis kinda thing I suppose.

I moved on my own in July, got prepared to start over and take my job, which I love, and move on, again, with my stupid life that keeps taking a piss every decade or so.

Last W...

Done. You took away parts of me.
Holes gouged deep in my persona.
Bits of data mined from a larger program.
The computer now runs obsolete.

Fill the holes with stuff and things.
Eat, smoke, drink, replenish the void.
A temporary fix to the problem.
Depletion eventual, empty again inside.

Try to fill the gaps with people.
Not someone to have or hold, just friends.
Reach for people who come close enough.
Anyone, to make me feel anything.

Gone. You gave up sooner than I.
You have harvested my hopes ...

It’s been seven months since I left the farm.
I moved in an apartment on July 1st 2025.

As for our marriage, there was no reconciliation.

What lead us to that outcome, what pushed us apart, why we couldn’t fix things, how could things have been different, did we not try hard enough, none of that matters anymore… but it doesn’t mean I don’t think about it. Doesn’t mean I don’t think of how I failed once again, all the time. Some of us have moved on and the rest of us hope that we are shortly behind...

Well then, it seems my last blog post didn’t age very well.

“I don’t think I could write anything that would explain how perfect my 2015 was. Between our wedding, my near death, my graduation and our purchasing the farm,”

Without getting too much into it, the last ten years were…
Meh.

2025 was the toughest.
I lost everything.

The marriage is over. There were more life-altering health problems. I’m working a management job again – no fine dining. My family is done (marriage gone and the dog died) and n...

I see a lot of people talking about posting blog posts about their 2015 year. While I had an amazing 2015, I don’t think I could write anything that would explain how perfectmy 2015 was. Between ourwedding, mynear death, mygraduation and our purchasing the farm, that alone would have taken up a multitude of pages on the world-wide inter webs and there’s no way I could begin to have done that year justice.

Instead, I’ve decided to post about what’s to come in Mandy da Costa’s life… Yeah, I’ve...

I’m getting married… In exactly 29 days. I’m not sure when I decided to bake my own wedding cake, but I know it was a good idea at the time. With the deadline quickly approaching, maybe I don’t exactly feel the same now. I’ll get it done, I have to, and it will be amazing. I hope it looks amazing when I’m done. I could always blame the “cake place”, had I not already told everyone that I was going to make my own cake, but it’s far too late for that.

This is actually the second, first layer. I...

Well that exciting. I just ordered a Sansaire Sous Vide machine as a belated bday gift from the boy. :)��He was going to get me a cake airbrush, but then I figured��why not get something I’ll use more often. There’s not much we don’t have for the kitchen so I opted for something I’ve been wanting.

For the readers who aren’t really sure what sous vide is, it’s french for under vacuum. You seal the food item into an airtight bag and place it in a temperature controlled water bath, low and slow....

I just finished a kick ass practical class. Today wasn’t a special practical class, actually that was last week. My hey-day. I got to be��Chef of the Day. This is where I choose the menu, and get to run the kitchen and expedite on line. Even though it was all that awesome, for some reason, last week still wasn’t as good as today was.

Today, and yesterday for our 3 hour mise class, I was designated “Bread”. (Mise en place is a culinary term that means “to put everything in it’s place”. It��pret...

(*This review is a lot more in-depth than others I’ve posted, as it was done for a school project.)

http://www.alliumrestaurant.ca

Allium restaurant is located at 87 Holland Street, a half block north of Wellington Street. Open since 2004, Allium’s website describes the restaurant as a “modern bistro-style restaurant”, and I think this is a very fitting description. Allium offers both lunch and dinner menus and the ever-popular Monday night tapas menu. The service style is tableside service. Th...

Even with culinary school keeping me busy, I still manage to get a few new stories out into the world every so often.

I was messaged about being part of a benefit anthology for one of my good friends. I could have sent ina few reprints but I wanted to send in a new story, so that’s what I did… and this one is a good one. ;)

I’m amongst some great storytellers in this awesomelittle book.

Introduction – Brian Keene

Breathe My Name – Christopher Golden

The Tin Box – Kelli Owen

For Whom We Mourn – Geof...