10 REASONS I'M NOT MAKING A BLOG POST TONIGHT

1.  I have been up past midnight for a solid month to please the 3 loyal blog readers that I have - My wife, my father, and my dog (the dog is illiterate but tries to please me - man's best friend and all).  I feel like a vampire!

2.  My wife thinks I am cheating on her with 75 mom bloggers that I am following on Twitter and Facebook.  Little does she know they don't even know who the hell I am...Herein lies the problem!

3.  All of my buddies wonder why in the hell I am following 75 mom bloggers on Twitter and Facebook.  How do you answer that question when your buddies all think your a tough guy?

4.  The word blog is just plain dumb.  I should be ashamed to be a part of anything called a blog.  What in the hell does blog mean?  I don't even want to know.  Forget it.  Crap.

5.  I am supposed to be wacky - I don't feel wacky tonight - I feel like someone ran me over with a damned truck.

6.  I'm getting hemorrhoids from sitting in this damned computer chair every night and I am getting fat and I'm already ugly!

7.  I am ashamed to say that I know what Quora is.  Do any of you even know what in the hell Quora is?

8.  I actually caught myself being interested in a mom blog the other day.  Something about the ins and outs of mommy fashion - I might have even signed up for a free bra giveaway.  Oh Crap!  

9.  I am one of two guys on Bloggy Moms.  The other guy was there first though.  I have become a gigolo to promote my blog in any way possible.  No shame no gain I suppose!

10.  I actually know what a hashtag is.  I used to think hashtag was something you rolled in paper...All is lost.  

Ohhhh I just can't resist the "Publish Post" button.  Oops I did it again!

Love,

Wacky Dad

AKA Eric Costantino

Pressure Cooked Chicken Stew - Wacky Dad Style!

Pressure Cooking Rocks!!!!

All right dads I have the ultimate cooking tool for you.  This thing is fast, fun, and the food comes out delicious!  Plus you feel like Mr. Wizard while you use it!  This little beauty was a Christmas present from my parents this year.  I have always wanted one but never really knew why.  I am one of those knuckleheads that has to have every damned crazy gadget I see on the middle of the night infomercials.  But let me tell you what.  This thing is the real deal.  It is constructed like a brick shit house.  If you ever need to nail an intruder with a pan definitely grab this baby - better than a Louisville slugger.  Anyway all I had to work with tonight were 4 chicken thighs, some potatoes, some carrots and chicken boullion.  No problem for me!  I decided to whip up a 25 minute chicken stew in my new pressure cooker.  No I did not have a recipe - just some vague ramblings from my father about how he made beef stew - I wasn't paying attention.  Anyway I browned the 4 thighs in light olive oil in the bottom of the pan.  I then added 4 whole cloves of garlic, 5 cups of water, 5 cubes of Chicken Boullion, Salt and Pepper and I put the lid on this contraption for 10 minutes.  In the meantime I cut up 2 large potatoes and a few carrots.

After 15 minutes of furious and awe inspiring steam hissing I managed to get the lid off the thing without blowing myself up.  The chicken was as tender as could be!  I added the veggies in and also added a thickener (Wondra) to the stew.  I threw the lid back on and let it rip for another 10 minutes.  In 25 minutes time I had a delicious stew ready to eat that would normally have taken hours to become as savory as this stew was.  I am totally impressed.  Of course this all sounds good while I'm writing here but I highly recommend watching the attached video to find out all of the meathead details that went along with this cooking experience.  Moms and Dads I have to say that this recipe was a success and the whole family enjoyed multiple servings.  Follow the links I have attached and get yourself on of these babies!  Don't blow yourself up and everyone will be happy!  Actually if you do blow yourself up please send video and photos so I can laugh!   




Iron Chef - Wacky Dad

Pancreatic Cancer - The Fight Is On And We Need Your Help!

    Every once in a while I will be serious on this blog and I have chosen today as one of those days.  This past June I lost my close friend, Karen Petty to Pancreatic Cancer.  Karen's son Jason was my closest friend growing up and I was at the Petty household on a daily basis.  Karen was like a second mother to me while I was growing up.  Losing Karen was the closest I have come to losing a parent and it really hit home for me.  Karen's passing has inspired me to bring the fight to Pancreatic Cancer in any way I know how.  My first stab at taking on this disease took place on Sept. 25th 2010 in the form of a 200 mile one day solo bicycle ride from Karen's home in West Warwick, RI to her cabin in Thornton, NH.  This ride served a twofold purpose.  It gave me a way to take on Pancreatic Cancer actively and also helped me honor the great life that Karen led.  Also with the help of devoted family and friends we raised almost $8000 for the Lustgarten Foundation from this event.  The Lustgarten Foundation is underwritten by Cablevision, allowing 100% of your donations to go to Pancreatic Cancer research.  I believe the amount raised is testament to how many people truly loved Karen.
     Since the ride I have had a lot of time to reflect and have become more in tune to the Pancreatic Cancer community.  I have found that although raising money for research is extremely important, there is something that I think is even more important to the overall fight against Pancreatic Cancer.  That something is AWARENESS!  I am totally shocked by how few people have mobilized against a disease that happens to be the 4th largest cancer killer in this country.  Yes the 4th largest - with survival rates in the single digits, and very few government dollars to aid in the fight!  This is unacceptable to me.  Something else I've learned since my ride is that Pancreatic Cancer is actually a very slow growing cancer and only becomes lethal in your body after about a 20 year gestation period.  I find this news heartening because in my mind if we can catch this disease in its infancy then I believe we can kill it.  The key to all of this is early detection - which has so far eluded researchers.  The only path to finding a cure is to give these researchers the money they need to continue on with their search.  Raising public awareness of Pancreatic Cancer is the only path to getting the research funding, both Federal and private, needed to make this fight a success.


 I recently joined the Rhode Island Affiliate of The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.  I learned about this group from an event called Purple Light that I was invited to by one of it's members.  I was very impressed by what I saw at the event and also by the fire in the bellies of its volunteers.  I knew this was a group I had to be a part of.  These are fighters that I can stand back to back with in my fight against Pancreatic Cancer.  The Rhode Island affiliate is relatively new and really beginning to pick up speed.  I have taken on the role of Event Coordinator for the Rhode Island affiliate to try to do my part.


     Our next event will be what is called a PurpleStride event.  It is a walk to be held on May 15th, 2011 at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI.  We have made it our goal to bring at least 1000 walkers to this event.  I believe that Rhode Island should be a perfect place to begin a storm of awareness on the subject of Pancreatic Cancer.  We are small, passionate, and smart.  We also do not like to be messed with.  Rhode Islanders are being assaulted every day by this insidious disease and I find it hard to believe that this state full of fighters will continue to take this lying down.  We are here standing by to help you bring the fight to Pancreatic Cancer in your own way.  We all have special talents and it is time to put them to good use.  This event will take all of our talents and resources to make it the big success we need it to be.  On Wednesday, 1/5/11 we are having a purplestride planning meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 at 82 Pierce St in East Greenwich (the public library), and will continue to meet on a monthly basis after that.  Please join us and help squash Pancreatic Cancer into a memory before it takes any more of our friends or family from us.

Sincerely,

Eric Costantino

Papa Mario On American Chop Suey!

You've all gotten a small glimpse of my 93 year old Papa Mario with his video on "The Hereafter".  Here is another video shot on the same day.  Papa Mario is very passionate about the food he likes.  Somehow the subject got on American Chop Suey.  I have heard Papa rant and rave about this stuff before but was never lucky enough to get it on video before.  Thanks to the small nature of my Flip Video camera I have been able to get this on record more discreetly than a full size camera.  Check out this video for a good laugh thanks to Papa Mario!