Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Saratoga Sampler

Mary Ann Cook

Sanborn slide shows are indeed picnics

Didja know that Sanborn Park Hostel offers travel talks the last Thursday of each month? The format is: Bring a picnic beforehand and then listen to tales and and watch slides of far-off or not-so-far-off lands. Cyclists who have biked throughout the world often share tales of their adventures. The next talk will be July 31 and will feature Jim Sullivan on "The Nile and the Amazon, Comparison and Contrast." The last time Sullivan spoke, he drew "the biggest crowd ever" to the Thursday event, says Sylvia Carroll, director of the hostel. The talk will start at 7:30 p.m., with picnicking and schmoozing an hour earlier. Sullivan's father is a Saratoga banker. Weddings are no longer held at the hostel, but they can still be performed nearby in the park at Peterson Grove, where the Youth Science Institute has quarters.

Alan Rosenus, Saratoga author of General M.G. Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans, will accompany the Saratoga Book Market folks on their jaunt to Books by the Bay, the all-day book fair held in San Francisco July 19. The show is for independent booksellers, who each bring a representative author.

Rosenus' biography has won two awards: the Golden Spur Award for Best Biography of 1995 from the Association of Western Writers of America and the Editor's Award for Best Historical Scholarship from the Sonoma County Historical Society.

Rosenus has taught English and American literature, has "been lucky in real estate" and has reintroduced poet Joachin Miller to contemporary audiences. Besides his biography, he has also published Indian devil stories and edited the Indian History of the Modoc War.

Wives once dreamed of furs and jewels as fantasy presents, but times and the female psyche change, evidently. Joan Lynch's fantasy lust was for a drive in an 18-wheeler cab, and husband Jack surprised her with just that--a borrowed one--for her recent birthday. You may have seen it in all its understated red, white and blue glory, cruising down Big Basin Way, the better to pick up Joan's pals for a celebration.

Two new Saratoga restaurants have been added to the list of those who feed the residents of Julian Street Inn monthly. The two are Dolce Vita and Sent Soví. Contributing to the Julian Street Inn is an outreach project of the Saratoga Presbyterian Church.

Church members volunteer to prepare food for 60 once a month, and Saratoga restaurants contribute a meal a month. This month Dolce Vita, owned by Sasha Lunginozic, will provide the food, and the August entrées will be from David Kinch's Sent Soví. Nothing to do with leftovers, the meals are prepared from scratch.

The program is starting its sixth year and is coordinated and conveyed to San Jose by Warren Nelson, whose idea it was in the first place. Fine vittles for those with mental problems, which is the plight of the Julian Street Inn residents. And a heartwarming jolt for the servers--Warren and his wife, Doris, and Paul and Sarah Piligian.

Those who serve usually receive a spontaneously erupting standing ovation at the end of the meal, Nelson relates. He says he got the idea to include Saratoga restaurants in the operation one night after serving at the Inn and then driving home down Big Basin Way and seeing all the exquisite dining going on there. "The extremes just hit me," he says. So he began approaching restaurants with the idea, and he's only been turned down once. Other participating restaurants are Bella Saratoga, La Trattoria, La Mere Michelle, Mandarin Chef, Le Mouton Noir, Jake's of Saratoga, Viaggio and The Plumed Horse. Coordinator of the church members contributing dinners is Sandra Blackborow, and Dr. Dick Spencer is the church pastor.

In other restaurant news, Ravioli's, at Prospect and Saratoga Avenue, will hold its grand reopening July 19 from noon to 3 p.m. as a benefit for Eastfield Ming Quong. The Ravioli's redesign promises a change from fast food to casual gourmet, say its owners.

The Steve Kerners played host to six extra college students for 10 days earlier this month, all members of the University of Missouri fencing team, as is son Matthew Kerner. The team was here to participate in the Summer National Championships of the American Fencing Association. The team doesn't have a coach and is unique in quite another way: Team member De al-Mohammed of Columbia, Mo., is blind. Getting that many people ready to spring into action at the Santa Clara Convention Center each morning with only two showers was quite a tricky maneuver, too, Kerner reports.

THE Founding pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Gerry Amundsen, and wife, Ethel, now retired, visited recently.

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