Friday 29 May 2009

The shame of it

John Belushi
Kathleen Battle
The Big Bopper
Marlon Brando
Buddha
Victor Buono
Raymond Burr
John Candy
Drew Carey
Nell Carter
Chubby Checker
Winston Churchill
Santa Claus (!)
James Coco
William Conrad
Dom Deluise
Elvis (in his later years)
Chris Farley
Conchata Farrell
Totie Fields
Aretha Franklin
Jackie Gleason
John Goodman
President Ulysses S. Grant
Sydney Greenstreet
Oliver Hardy
Pope John XXIII
James Earl Jones
B.B. King
Mario Lanzo
Charles Laughton
Rush Limbaugh
Emmanuel Little
Hattie McDaniels
Meatloaf
Zero Mostel
Kathy Najimy (formerly fat)
Luciano Pavarotti
President Theodore Roosevelt
Roseanne
Babe Ruth
Bevery Sills
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
President Taft
Luisa Tetrazzini (late 19th c. opera diva
for whom chicken tetrazzini was named!)
Luther Vandross
Venus de Wilendorf
Orson Welles
Shelley Winters
John Browne

16 stone !!

5 comments:

Nick Browne said...

Bad weight, great list! Where did you get it?

John said...

Legends of the all you can eat Sunday buffet hosted at the Zafran on Skewen high street !

Nick Browne said...

'Nuff Said.

John said...

• 20g/a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms
• olive oil
• 4 chicken thighs, boned, skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 350g/2 handfuls of mixed fresh mushrooms, cleaned and torn
• 200ml oz white wine
• 455g dried spaghetti
• 500ml double cream
• 200g Parmesan cheese, grated
• a sprig of fresh basil, leaves picked

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Put your porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover them (approx. 150ml/5½fl oz). Put to one side to soak for a few minutes. Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients, and pour in a splash of olive oil. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown them gently in the oil. Strain the porcini, reserving the soaking water, and add them to the pan with the garlic and fresh mushrooms. Add the wine, with the strained porcini soaking water, and turn the heat down. Simmer gently until the chicken pieces are cooked through and the wine has reduced a little.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions and drain well. Add the cream to the pan of chicken, then bring to the boil and turn the heat off. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the drained spaghetti to the creamy chicken sauce and toss well. Add three-quarters of the Parmesan and all of the basil and stir well. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish or non-stick pan, sprinkle with half the remaining cheese and bake in the oven until golden brown, bubbling and crisp. Divide between your plates, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese before serving

Nick Browne said...

I have gone up to 16 stone just thinking about it.