By Christopher Quirk
Hollister
– Peggy Fortino might no longer be at the head of a classroom,
but she is still offering up the sage life advice and sweet
desserts that made her a successful, well-loved teacher.
Hollister – Peggy Fortino might no longer be at the head of a classroom, but she is still offering up the sage life advice and sweet desserts that made her a successful, well-loved teacher.
After 33 years of teaching home economics at South Valley Middle School, the only bells Fortino hears now are from oven timers announcing the completion of her cakes. At the Cedar House – where she bakes four days a week – the staff is hearing bells too as the telephone rings with customers ordering her custom-made desserts.
Fortino began work at the restaurant on Pacheco Pass Highway near its intersection with Highway 156 – the Don Pacheco Y – in October after answering an ad calling for homemakers with aspirations of baking professionally.
The Cedar House, which dishes out continental food seven days a week, wanted someone “out of the norm of the industry,” said Tony Ybarra, restaurant manager.
The cake chef, in addition to baking elaborate desserts, is responsible for greeting customers with a smile. As a result, Fortino was chosen by Ybarra not only for her skills in the kitchen, but also as an embodiment of how he wants the Cedar House to be viewed: wholesome, down-to-earth and, above all, welcoming.
“She’s still got that old country twang that the rest of us who grew up in the area also have,” Ybarra said.
While it may have been lucky timing for the Cedar House that Fortino decided to pursue cooking after leaving education, the transition was a long time coming.
“We talked a lot about goal-setting in class,” Fortino said. Following her own advice, in 1995 she decided that she would retire for the purpose of “becoming immersed in cooking.”
It was not until 2004, however, that she exited teaching and enrolled in Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco. There, she honed skills specifically for baking desserts, which she views as a continuous battle for perfection.
“A baker is a scientist, and to me it’s a mystery to have the ingredients at the right temperature and the right timing,” Fortino said. “When you make the perfect crème brûlee, when you make the perfect Danish, that keeps me intrigued, that keeps me going.”
While the job change was natural to her, some of Fortino’s former students are surprised when they enter the restaurant.
“They’re shocked,” she said. “Their jaw drops and they say, ‘Aren’t you a teacher?'”
Lapsing back into her days at the head of the class, she tells them her story and, still attuned to how to make her life lessons applicable to her former students, explains how she got there.
“If you want something, you’ve got to set your goals and take the baby steps to achieve those goals,” she said.
Christopher Quirk covers education for the Dispatch. Contact him at 427-7240 or [email protected].
