Four couples gathered at Sharon, Rodger and Kendra Barkoff’s Los Altos Hills home last month for a cooking-oriented “Party with a Purpose” in support of the locally founded Sunbeam Foundation, created in 2005 in memory of Los Altos resident Sara Laboskey, who died at 21 in 2002 of Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer.
The Aug. 8 fundraiser netted $2,200, and Sharon said she plans to schedule another in October. She has a particular goal – an anonymous donor has offered a $50,000 matching grant if the foundation can raise the money.
Sharon recruited local couples to spend an evening gathering food from her garden and participating in an in-depth cooking class taught by Gabriel Gutierrez, chef and co-owner of Pompeii, the Italian restaurant on State Street. Pompeii donated food for the event, and Vino 100 on Main Street donated wine. Vino 100 owner Paul Gessert perused Gutierrez’ planned menu and paired four wines to individual courses.
“Chef Gabriel walked them through an evening of Italian cuisine,” Sharon said. “They made an antipasto after picking the tomatoes from my garden – we used Roma, early girl and pineapple-yellow tomatoes – it was a potpourri of colors, with fresh basil.”
The group went on to craft a yellow squash soup with potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and onions in a reduced chicken broth, polenta with fresh sautéed vegetables, and sautéed spinach. The centerpiece of the meal was a rack of lamb with a reduced balsamic wine sauce. The couples enjoyed a sweet red wine with zabaglione, raspberries, blueberries and biscotti for dessert.
Sharon, a retired elementary school teacher who conducts cooking classes for children from her home, transferred her pedagogical training to adults for the evening.
“We made more food than we ever could have consumed, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a job, so they could feel like they were part of the community of chefs,” she said. Gabriel really encouraged everyone to be involved – the kitchen was a mass of worker bees.”
Sharon was inspired by the offer of the matching grant to start planning the fundraising evening, but she also planned the evening with her daughter in mind – Kendra was friends with Laboskey.
“The catharsis was sitting around and discussing Sara and talking about our pledge to move forward,” Sharon said.
For more information about the Sunbeam Foundation, visit www.sunbeamfoundation.org. To contact Sharon Barkoff about the October dinner, call 941-0444.
