
Perhaps
it is the simple act of cooking for loved ones during a time of anxiety and
peril that is so appealing. Either as an expression of love or merely a way to
occupy time, whipping up a home-cooked meal or baking a loaf of sourdough bread
have never seemed so enticing.
During
a recent meeting with division faculty, Javier Ayala, dean of Career and Technical Education, called
upon Coyne to share some cooking tips and recipes. The instructor of the
college’s home cooking essentials class happily obliged.
Coyne,
a San Diego native, credits her mother for instilling a lifelong love for
baking.
“At
home, I was in charge of holiday baking since my mother always seemed to burn
her baked goods,” said Coyne, who got her start in food services as an
18-year-old as a counter clerk at a Winchell’s Donut House. She worked her way
up to baker and store manager, working 70-90 hours a week.
Then
a mother of two small children, Coyne left for a less demanding server’s job at
Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Steakhouse on Friars Road, a position she held
for a decade. Her next job as a server at Humphreys Restaurant coincided with
learning to bake at Amy Malone’s School of Cake Decorating in La Mesa and a
stint making wedding cakes.
“Then
I attended the Culinary Arts Program here at Grossmont College and I absolutely
loved it,” she said.
After
finishing the program in 2003, she went on to train at the Culinary Institute
of America at Greystone in the Napa Valley. Returning to San Diego, she was
hired back at Humphreys, where the recession led to her taking on dual
positions as sous chef and pastry chef. Two decades running the kitchen at
Humphreys led to her next cooking venture as the culinary program coordinator
at the San Diego office of the global relief agency, International Rescue
Committee.
A culinary job training program for refugee women proved a success, with the creation of a boutique catering business that employed many of the refugees.
In 2014, Coyne began teaching in Grossmont College’s Culinary Arts Program, leading classes in Soups & Stocks, Buffet & Catering, and Advanced Work Experience. She helped create the Home Cooking Essentials course in collaboration with department chair Chef James Foran and Katrina VanderWoude, then Vice President of Student Affairs. She calls this time a career highlight.
“I have taught every semester since then. I love it here,” she said. “It is such a gift to be able to take all my experiences in the industry and help students reach their goals. It is so important to me to continue to improve myself in order to give back to my students. We have all had to take on the challenge of remote culinary classes. I am so proud of our department and the work we are doing.”
Some recipes:

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