Robots and Ravioli

When your doctor puts you on bed rest starting at month 5 of your pregnancy, by the time you get to month 7 you start to go a little crazy. Hormones coupled with wanting to get the hell out of house start to get at you and you start thinking of crazy scenarios, which by the way is driving my husband crazy. So the latest "Girl Interrupted" delusion that I had was, "Does Ian still love me?" I could slap myself for even typing it, but I went there.
So for the past week I have been acting like a damn fool, trying to get a response out of my man that reinforces his passion and love for me after 8 years of being together. I will give you an example...
Crazy Ass Act #102: Dancing in front of Ian, while he's trying to watch TV, wearing my son's Transformers' helmet, half naked and talking sexy through the helmet's microphone so that I sound like Optimus Prime.
My Reasoning: He's a Sci-Fi geek. He's gettin' two great taste that taste great together. Hot wife and super sick Sci-Fi hero.
The Reality: He laughed his ass off, didn't think it was hot and pleaded with me,"N'Gina Saran Kavookjian go sit down somewhere, anywhere and PLEASE take the helmet off!"

Ok ok ok, failed attempt. Now I know that that kind of behavior would only really be tolerated and or appreciated by some dude at Comic Con, or with a man that likes to play W.O.W or Dungeons and Dragons. So I changed my game plan...
Non-Crazy Ass Act #702: Home-made Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Ravioli with Braised Chicken Thigh Meat for dinner.
My Reasoning: The boy likes to eat
The Reality: He loved it. Complimented me a thousand times, gave me the biggest kiss and said," THAT is why I married you!!!"
Eureka!!!! I followed it up the next night with some home-made meatballs and tomato puree on top of spaghetti. Got the same reaction times 10!!!
So ladies when you're feeling low and that your man isn't giving you the attention that you need, or you're friggin crazy like me and he is spoiling you with attention, but all the blood in your body has gone to your growing baby and not your brain...cook him dinner and put lots of love in it. It's alot more practical than dancing around with a robot helmet on your head.

Quick Credit

With my pregnant brain in overdrive I forgot to credit the photo from Erin L. from Yelp.

Ah Sweet Fried Goodness!

I don't think that I have ever written a restaurant review on this blog. I tend to think that most critics are asses and would rather base my experience off of actually going to the restaurant and making a decision for myself. So I won't call this a review, but a compliment to some people doing a damn good job at cooking the BEST soul food in Sacramento; and when I say the BEST, I do mean it!
So this past Thursday, while hunting for bathroom tile, my husband and I were looking for a place to get something to eat. On the way to the tile store, off of Folsom Blvd, I had noticed a new restaurant called Mama Sue's Kitchen Chicken and Waffles. Out front was a very bored, ghetto fabulous young lady shakin' a sign trying in all her apathy to get people to come inside. I told Ian that we should check it out and got a, "Oh hell yea!" in response.

After slapping Ian for looking at Miss Ghetto Fabulous's ample backside, we walked inside and took a seat. It was clean, roomy, smelled like grandma's house and had the old school jams on the radio. A very personable waitress approached us and gave us menus that we quickly scoured over. They had all the basics that you would expect on a soul food menu. Ian selected the Deep Fried Catfish with Greens and Mac n' Cheese and I ordered the Fried Chicken Breast and Waffle.
Food hit the table not 15 minutes after we ordered, it was steamy hot and the plates were busting over with Southern goodness. We jumped in and started to partake in the ecstasy that was Soul Food. I peeled back the crust on the chicken and immediately knew these people were not playin' around. The key to GREAT fried chicken is to always season the meat as well as your flour. Many places in Sac neglect to do this, so after the crunchy crust falls off your chicken, you're left with bland meat to dig into. At Mama Sue's you could see the seasoning on the meat and I knew that this was going to be good.
I went to take a bite of the chicken and was quickly scolded by Ian that I had to take a bite of everything together with the syrup. Ian likes to remind me that he, in his red beard, freckled, Irish glory is more black than me. So I did as I was told and I think a small tear spilled out of my eye. Vanglorious!!! The chicken was well seasoned and very balanced, the waffle was buttery and fluffy, and the syrup was not over the top sweet. On their own, everything on the plate was great and together they were only better.
Ian's Catfish was delicately breaded and so moist on the inside. The greens were perfectly savory and full of meaty pork bits. Now the Mac n' Cheese was not all that, but I've been spoiled by Esquire Grill's Mac n' Cheese. Once you have a four cheese Mac with a Bechamel base you can never really go back to Mac n' Cheese made with processed powdered cheese substitute.
We surprising ate every last drop. We were full until 7pm that night. We sat there completely satisfied.
I broke off the last piece of fried chicken skin and looked at Ian and said,
"Do you know what this is?"
"What?"
"This is Chicharones for Black people!"
"You're stupid N'Gina"
We did the full people's laugh, which is like two "huh huh's" and then paid and thanked our waitress.
So if you are hankerin' for some seriously good soul food, you need to go to Mama Sue's. The prices are super reasonable, the food is fabulous, service warm and inviting and did I mention they have all you can eat Fried Chicken on Sunday's! Whaaaaaaaat!

Mama Sue's Soul Food Kitchen
10113 Folsom Boulevard
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
(916) 363-3977