The AGSFB from left: Kim Baxter, Jennifer Sbragia, Kathy Foster, and Ari Douangpanya show off their summer munchies, complete with pyrotechnics.
Image by Megan Holmes
Cookin With Venus: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Issue #24
The ladies of All Girl Summer Fun Band dish out their favorite recipes for summer noshing
By Stephanie Levi
Published: June 1st, 2005 | 3:21pm
Who better to provide the perfect veggie fix for a summer day than Portland’s All Girl Summer Fun Band? Bandmates Kim Baxter, Arirak Douangpanya, Jennifer Sbragia, and Kathy Foster know a thing or two about summer fun, having released two albums that get us in the summertime mood at any time of year.
The gals have been very busy: Baxter is working on her master’s thesis and has finished a new line of bags for her company, Kissycake (Kissycake.com). Sbragia is wrapping up her degree in design and is excited about AGSFB’s next release, saying that “musically it will be more complex, and I want to give a nod to my metal past.” Foster is working on an album for her other band, the Thermals, making art, and selling shirts through her site (Daydreamfactory.com). Douangpanya’s been working with the rest of the gals on their next AGSFB album. Baxter added, “My brother, Todd Baxter, is already working on the artwork for the album, and our friend Joe Meno is going to write a story for the booklet.” The ladies graciously took a break from their busy schedules to share their favorite vegetarian summer recipes with Venus. — Stephanie Levi
“My favorite thing to eat in the summer is sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden, with fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. It’s so easy to make, and the kitchen don’t get hot.” — guitarist Jennifer Sbragia
Jen’s Fresh Mozzarella (or Tofu) with Tomato and Basil
fresh tomatoes
fresh basil
fresh mozzarella
balsamic vinegar
Get some fresh tomatoes. They are best if you grew them yourself, of course. Any kind of tomato will do, and don't be afraid to try different varieties, like the yellow ones and the Romas and the Brandywines. Cut them up into slices and arrange on a plate. Get some fresh mozzarella cheese, the kind that is in a tub of water like tofu. You can also use tofu, if you wanna go vegan style. Cut that up in the same thickness and arrange on the plate as well. Now, add some fresh leaf basil to the mix — -not the dried kind in the spice shaker. Now just drizzle some balsamic vinegar on there and voila! Eat up. Delicious on its own or layered on a cracker or slice of baguette.
“Mt. St. Helens has been blowing steam for a few months now, so I thought that by making the cake I might encourage it to finally erupt.” — keyboardist Kim Baxter
Kim’s Mt. St. Helens Volcano Cake
1 layer cake, boxed or from scratch, prepared.
Ingredients for frosting:
16-ounce box of powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup water
food coloring (red, green, yellow)
sparklers
The cake itself really isn’t important — you can buy whatever cake mix you want or use a vegan recipe. The important part is the homemade frosting and the pyrotechnics! First just make the cake and let it cool. It can be baked in any kind of pan because you’re just going to mash it up to form your volcano anyway. To make the frosting, combine the powdered sugar and butter and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the water until it’s a smooth, frosting-like consistency. Next separate the frosting into four separate bowls. Add green, yellow, and red food coloring to one bowl to make brown frosting, add red and yellow in another to make orange frosting, then red for the red frosting, and yellow for the yellow. Easy enough, right? Now for the fun part: Scoop out your cake and form it into a volcano (like in Close Encounters. You can even hum that creepy song while you are doing it). Cover the sides and bottom of the cake with the brown frosting. Then add the orange, red, and yellow to the middle and sides of the cake to make it look like lava and fire! Finally, add sparklers (as many as you’d like), crank up a little Led Zeppelin, light the sparklers, and enjoy.
Note: You will get dust particles on the cake from the sparklers. Is it still OK to eat? I’m not sure. The girls in my band ate it and they’re still alive, so I’m sure it’s fine!
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