Dinner

Dinner – many Americans dine outside in restaurants because it’s very cheap (cheaper than to make dinner at home). There’re many small restaurants – it’s easy to find place.
Child restaurants – waitresses are dressed in costumes of fairy tale characters and on the table there’re papers for drawing pictures.
Planet Hollywood – chain restaurants and family places.
Mexican restaurants are the most expensive ones. The best restaurants are on the south of the US (Cajun, Creole).
Asian restaurants are the least expensive ones.
Chilly – the most typical mexican dish – ground beef with red kidney beans with salsa (hot sauce) and cumin. They eat it with wheat tortillas.
Baked potatoes – by origin come from Idaho, big with high content of sugar. They’re baked in their skin in aluminium foil. They cut the skin and fill them with cream.
Southerm fried chicken – pieces of chicken without skin, without fat from poultry, bones, made to a form of steaks. coated in breadcrumbs and mixed with spices (curry, chilli, basil, parsley, rosemary). It’s very juicy and seasoned. With french fries and big salads.
Chop Suey – in Chinese restaurants. Invented in America, made of bamboo shoots, bean sproats, mushrooms, water chestnuts, mixed with sea food (shrimps, oysters). Served over rice. Invented during the California Gold Rush.
Dim Sum – In Chinese restaurants, resembles raviolli. It’s big pasta case filled with meat and vegetables. Both (Chop Suey and Dim Sum) are served with chop sticks, sometimes fork&spoon, they eat it together with sticky rice.
Clam chowder – thick soup made of clams, celery, potatoes, served with oyster crackers
Sushi – the most expensive. Raw fish (they must be careful, they mustn’t cut gall-bladder – bile is poisonous) with vegetables and rice.
Tortilla is a kind of side dish. Tucoes – small tortillas filled with chilli. Burrito – large tortilla filled with meat.

Convenience food = ready-made food. Such dinners called TV dinners because preparation time is the same as commercial time on TV (=12 minutes). It’s a tray where you have meal, side order… You microwave it.

Rules – on the table. Dipping ( sour cream, cheese, salsa) & chips. When you’re waiting you dip chips into salsa, it’s like apetizer.
You pay for the first cup of drink, the other are free (not alcohol). Hard alcohol is not served in restaurants. All drinks come with ice. They have to serve untill 10 minutes – you get an alarm-clock. You leave 10% tip on the table.