Stupid (but sincere) Questions about the USA

Much like Bunny just mentioned, it doesn't snow here in this part of Texas much. It snowed with freezing rain in the eighties, and there were some 700 accidents in one day. Snow plows / cinder trucks are not in existence here - who could afford to keep them for just one use every two or three decades?? And people don't have snow tires, but more importantly... nobody here knows how to drive in ice and snow! Why would they? Zero experience, and then one day they hit black ice and have no idea what it is or how to react...

I just want to add... seela, if you need a sleeper cell in the states... well... ;)

Are you suggesting that you are skilled at sleeping and/or related activities? Skill would be a karmic responsibility in these cases, I'm quite certain.
 
Are you suggesting that you are skilled at sleeping and/or related activities? Skill would be a karmic responsibility in these cases, I'm quite certain.

Oh heck yeah! I can sleep... anywhere, anytime, through any clamour :D
But karmic + responsibility just does not compute for me...
Are you doing that thing again where your posts only make sense in your head? :p
 
Oh heck yeah! I can sleep... anywhere, anytime, through any clamour :D
But karmic + responsibility just does not compute for me...
Are you doing that thing again where your posts only make sense in your head? :p

Let's just say that I'm trying to imagine what Thomas Pynchon would say and trying to come close. ;)
 
As long as it is not too cold, salt works wonders.

But colder than minus 6-8 degrees, then there is very little effect.

(Centigrades, that is! People who use arcane units of measure, should be dragged to the city square and dealt a dozen lashes with a three foot stick!)

Yup, I think it's mostly temperature and the amount of snow that decides if salt is used or not.
Here it's used in the south but not in the north.
Once in a while they miscalculate and use salt when more snow is coming and it gets colder. Then we get an idea about what it feels like to drive on soap.

My town used to be salt free until one year we had this icestormthing the day before Christmas and half the elderly population spent Christmas Eve in the hospital with broken wrists.

Out in the part where I live they hardly ever do anything about the snow except outside the houses. We have the same law Shy Guy mentioned.
 
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I'm American and have lots of questions about America lol
 
My stupid question about the US: Are the food portions really so huge you can split them two ways and both get a decent meal? Not talking the places marketed as huge or all you can eat, but just regular food in general.
 
My stupid question about the US: Are the food portions really so huge you can split them two ways and both get a decent meal? Not talking the places marketed as huge or all you can eat, but just regular food in general.

A lot of times, yes. Or at least, the dinner portions at, like, sit-down restaurants. Lunch tends to be smaller.

In our defense (somewhat), I don't think most people actually eat it all at once. It's kind of expected that you end up taking some leftovers home with you for later. :p
 
My stupid question about the US: Are the food portions really so huge you can split them two ways and both get a decent meal? Not talking the places marketed as huge or all you can eat, but just regular food in general.

A lot of times, yes. Or at least, the dinner portions at, like, sit-down restaurants. Lunch tends to be smaller.

In our defense (somewhat), I don't think most people actually eat it all at once. It's kind of expected that you end up taking some leftovers home with you for later. :p

Here's a picture of an appetizer meant for one from a large chain of Italian restaurants found across the U. S. This is their bruschetta:

 
Here's a picture of an appetizer meant for one from a large chain of Italian restaurants found across the U. S. This is their bruschetta:

Note to self: if I ever make it to the US, stick with appetizers. That's one huge bruschetta!

In comparison, this was my lunch yesterday, all of it. No appetizer other than a slice of dark bread.

P10608201072x804536x402_zps3fe9494d.jpg
 
Here's a picture of an appetizer meant for one from a large chain of Italian restaurants found across the U. S. This is their bruschetta:


That's about the size of the main pasta courses at one of our large chains of Italian restaurants. That's meant as lunch on it's own and dinner if combined with an appetizer or dessert and I guess you could manage three course if you're hungry.

I get that the idea is that you can take som with you, but isn't that highly impractical if you are out and about?
Do they sneer if you ask to split with someone and what about child portion sizes?
 
Note to self: if I ever make it to the US, stick with appetizers. That's one huge bruschetta!

In comparison, this was my lunch yesterday, all of it. No appetizer other than a slice of dark bread.

P10608201072x804536x402_zps3fe9494d.jpg

Dark bread! Like the kind I had for my Tomte and cranberry sandwiches... nom nom nom! :D (That dream just won't go away...!)

And by the way, that lunch is gorgeous :)
 
Dark bread! Like the kind I had for my Tomte and cranberry sandwiches... nom nom nom! :D (That dream just won't go away...!)

And by the way, that lunch is gorgeous :)

I'll skip the tomte, but dark bread with cranberries is good! Or did you mean the bread in your tomte sandwich was lathered with cranberry jam or something? That sounds weird.

And the lunch was excellent. Only cost 7 euros, too, so crossing the border to get lunch makes total sense. For 7 euros here you can get a Big Mac meal. :)
 
When visiting Japan I was often asked (jokingly) if I wanted a Japanese sized portion or an American sized portion. :eek: No one believed me when I said Japanese sized. They always gave a bigger portion and I felt obligated to try and eat it all.

American meals have grown really big. ~_~;
 
My stupid question about the US: Are the food portions really so huge you can split them two ways and both get a decent meal? Not talking the places marketed as huge or all you can eat, but just regular food in general.

My husband and I split meals often. It saves us money and keeps us from leaving with leftovers (no fun if you're going out after). I can't finish most meals served to me by other people as they always put more on than I can manage.
 
About this whole doggy bag thing. How do they pack it? Doesn't it all get mixed on the plate and then mix even further when they pack it? In my imagination it's all just one jumbled up mess that doesn't seem that appetizing to me.

What if you don't want to take your leftovers with you, is that considered odd?
 
About this whole doggy bag thing. How do they pack it? Doesn't it all get mixed on the plate and then mix even further when they pack it? In my imagination it's all just one jumbled up mess that doesn't seem that appetizing to me.

What if you don't want to take your leftovers with you, is that considered odd?

Foam or plastic containers that have compartments usually. Other than that things just kind of stay separate. Sometimes it feels odd refusing a takeaway container, but it's not a big deal.

What really feels odd is asking to take something from a place that doesn't do that.
(o_O)
 
I get that the idea is that you can take som with you, but isn't that highly impractical if you are out and about?

It can be. As long it's not a hundred million degrees outside, though, I usually just stash it in the backseat of whatever I'm driving until I can get home and put it in the refrigerator.

(And if it is a hundred million degrees, I don't even bother taking leftovers with me unless I'm going straight home. I don't even want to think about the kinds of things summer heat and humidity here does to poor, defenseless food without an air-conditioner running.)

Do they sneer if you ask to split with someone and what about child portion sizes?

In my experience, no. Admittedly, I don't go to particularly fancy restaurants, though.

There's this fantastic Chinese place here that I love to go to, and their portions are enormous. They serve each thing you order on large platters and bring you as many plates to eat from as you want. So I think there, it's expected that you split the entrees because, good lord, that's a lot of food. I can split an entree with a friend and still have enough left over to take another full meal home!

As far as child sizes, most places (that I have been to--mind you, I'm not a "fancy restaurant" type of person) don't mind if you order from the kids' menu. A lot of them also have a "senior menu" that's usually supposed to be for people over the age of 55 or so. The stuff from the senior menu tends to be a little larger than the kids' menu stuff, but not nearly as big as the regular entrees.

Also-also, like I said earlier, lunch (served from, say, 11:00 am to 2:00 or 3:00 pm) tends to be much more reasonably sized. :)

My husband and I split meals often. It saves us money and keeps us from leaving with leftovers (no fun if you're going out after). I can't finish most meals served to me by other people as they always put more on than I can manage.

YES.

I am...well, to put it nicely, I am not a small person. Still, I can't hope to even come close to finishing most regular-sized entrees. My friends and I will happily share one without question for this very reason.

About this whole doggy bag thing. How do they pack it? Doesn't it all get mixed on the plate and then mix even further when they pack it? In my imagination it's all just one jumbled up mess that doesn't seem that appetizing to me.

Like MeekMe said, you get a container with sections most of the time. Some places will put the food in for you, and others just have you do it yourself. I prefer the latter so that I can pack it in however I want. :p Then, they usually give you a shopping-bag type bag to put the (closed) containers in.

It sounds way more difficult than it actually is.

What if you don't want to take your leftovers with you, is that considered odd?

Not taking leftovers isn't usually considered odd. But, yeah, like MeekMe said, it's super-embarrassing to ask for a box for leftovers somewhere that they don't offer that. >.>


Honestly? This is just me talking again, so take it for what it's worth, but I prefer the larger portion sizes with the "take your leftovers with you" option. It's much easier for me to justify spending $20+ on dinner if I have a whole 'nother meal left over for the next day! And, yeah, dinner will just about always be upwards of $20, regardless of the size of the meal (at least here), so the real question is, do you want to pay $20 for only one meal, do you want to pay $20 for what works out to be two meals? :p
 
My stupid question about the US: Are the food portions really so huge you can split them two ways and both get a decent meal? Not talking the places marketed as huge or all you can eat, but just regular food in general.

Yes. And from what I've observed, most of us still eat it all. I've been trying to lose weight, so I try and save the second half for later. The only big chain that I eat at that has reasonably small portions is Applebee's...but they still charge the same as everybody else lol. Austin, Texas is a pretty healthy city. I work at a popular Texas grocery store, and I can really see a difference in what people eat here. I get, many, many regular customers that buy mostly produce and lean protein and/or show up looking fantastic in their workout clothes. The last place I lived, people bought a lot of soda, candy, snack cakes, processed foods, and lard, and I was surrounded by obesity and diabetes. They had ad campaigns on the local tv stations trying to spread awareness about the relationship of food choices and diabetes.

I'm sorry, long tangent there, I'm just saying I understand why people who live in other places think we're a nation of chubby over-indulgers. All you can eat buffets? Bottomless baskets of French-fries? Yeah.
 
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Most places do have a "light" menu you can order from, but not all. This is salad and chicken and veggies and lunch sized portions of food, etc.
Leaves room for dessert :p
 
As a former chef, I wanted to chime in on a few points...

In the vast majority of cases, appetizers are NOT intended for only one person. While there are, of course, exceptions to this, the intention of the cooks and chefs who created the menu and prepared the dish is that appetizers will be shared by all or some of the people at your table.

Portion size is a whole kettle of fish.

Most large chain restaurants do, intentionally, serve very large portions. And they don't expect that people will finish the whole thing in one sitting. They do expect you'll take much of it home with you. As bunny mentioned, the idea of getting not just one but two meals for your $20+ is VERY common and very appealing to many consumers.

What is really comes down to (again, talking about large chain restaurants here) is the idea of value. Customers want to FEEL like they're getting a good value for their money so over the years, more and more restaurants have been serving larger and larger portions as a way to serve that desire.

This, in my experience, is a pretty American thing. When it comes to food at least, we prefer quantity over quality. Restaurants have responded by giving us what we've been telling them we want. These chains are catering to the needs and desires of that particular niche of the market. It's a really fat, slow moving niche though, so it's hard to miss :D

Most Americans are not gourmands, foodies, food snobs (PYL) and will and in fact DO get quite upset when their waiter brings them a plate with a few bites of food on it. "I paid $20 for THIS!?!?!? harumph harumph!!! Let's go to Applebee's!"

On the other hand, most fine dining restaurants still serve reasonably sized portions of high QUALITY dishes. The intention in most (but admittedly not all) of this type of restaurant is to serve exceptionally good tasting food. The kind of food that is so good that you are tempted to lick the bowl clean when you're done. The kind of food that is portioned so that you could share an appetizer, have a small salad or soup, order an entrée and maybe even order dessert. That way, you as the diner have the opportunity to experience a much wider view of what the restaurant has to offer you as opposed to one giant fucking plate full of food that everyone knows you're never going to finish...

they are catering to a different niche of the restaurant-going market. That niche is full of people who are willing to pay for quality over quantity. Sadly, there are fewer of us in that market sector but as was mentioned previously, Austin is a city blessed with numerous great options in both categories and there's no shortage of excellent restaurants in this town. I thanks the culinary gods for that on a regular basis!
 
As a former chef, I wanted to chime in on a few points...

In the vast majority of cases, appetizers are NOT intended for only one person. While there are, of course, exceptions to this, the intention of the cooks and chefs who created the menu and prepared the dish is that appetizers will be shared by all or some of the people at your table.

Portion size is a whole kettle of fish.

Most large chain restaurants do, intentionally, serve very large portions. And they don't expect that people will finish the whole thing in one sitting. They do expect you'll take much of it home with you. As bunny mentioned, the idea of getting not just one but two meals for your $20+ is VERY common and very appealing to many consumers.

What is really comes down to (again, talking about large chain restaurants here) is the idea of value. Customers want to FEEL like they're getting a good value for their money so over the years, more and more restaurants have been serving larger and larger portions as a way to serve that desire.

This, in my experience, is a pretty American thing. When it comes to food at least, we prefer quantity over quality. Restaurants have responded by giving us what we've been telling them we want. These chains are catering to the needs and desires of that particular niche of the market. It's a really fat, slow moving niche though, so it's hard to miss :D

Most Americans are not gourmands, foodies, food snobs (PYL) and will and in fact DO get quite upset when their waiter brings them a plate with a few bites of food on it. "I paid $20 for THIS!?!?!? harumph harumph!!! Let's go to Applebee's!"

On the other hand, most fine dining restaurants still serve reasonably sized portions of high QUALITY dishes. The intention in most (but admittedly not all) of this type of restaurant is to serve exceptionally good tasting food. The kind of food that is so good that you are tempted to lick the bowl clean when you're done. The kind of food that is portioned so that you could share an appetizer, have a small salad or soup, order an entrée and maybe even order dessert. That way, you as the diner have the opportunity to experience a much wider view of what the restaurant has to offer you as opposed to one giant fucking plate full of food that everyone knows you're never going to finish...

they are catering to a different niche of the restaurant-going market. That niche is full of people who are willing to pay for quality over quantity. Sadly, there are fewer of us in that market sector but as was mentioned previously, Austin is a city blessed with numerous great options in both categories and there's no shortage of excellent restaurants in this town. I thanks the culinary gods for that on a regular basis!

This is a great perspective. I think that food offerings at restaurants have come a long way over the past decade, and more and more places that offer quality food are popping up that offer delicious, quality, and healthier food as well.
Now if I could just find seela's lunching spot, I would live there :D
 
As a former chef, I wanted to chime in on a few points...

In the vast majority of cases, appetizers are NOT intended for only one person. While there are, of course, exceptions to this, the intention of the cooks and chefs who created the menu and prepared the dish is that appetizers will be shared by all or some of the people at your table.

Portion size is a whole kettle of fish.

Most large chain restaurants do, intentionally, serve very large portions. And they don't expect that people will finish the whole thing in one sitting. They do expect you'll take much of it home with you. As bunny mentioned, the idea of getting not just one but two meals for your $20+ is VERY common and very appealing to many consumers.

I'm trash, I totally admit it. :p

What is really comes down to (again, talking about large chain restaurants here) is the idea of value. Customers want to FEEL like they're getting a good value for their money so over the years, more and more restaurants have been serving larger and larger portions as a way to serve that desire.

This, in my experience, is a pretty American thing. When it comes to food at least, we prefer quantity over quality. Restaurants have responded by giving us what we've been telling them we want. These chains are catering to the needs and desires of that particular niche of the market. It's a really fat, slow moving niche though, so it's hard to miss :D

Most Americans are not gourmands, foodies, food snobs (PYL) and will and in fact DO get quite upset when their waiter brings them a plate with a few bites of food on it. "I paid $20 for THIS!?!?!? harumph harumph!!! Let's go to Applebee's!"

Yeeeeep. Trash, I tell you. Utter trash. ;)

On the other hand, most fine dining restaurants still serve reasonably sized portions of high QUALITY dishes. The intention in most (but admittedly not all) of this type of restaurant is to serve exceptionally good tasting food. The kind of food that is so good that you are tempted to lick the bowl clean when you're done. The kind of food that is portioned so that you could share an appetizer, have a small salad or soup, order an entrée and maybe even order dessert. That way, you as the diner have the opportunity to experience a much wider view of what the restaurant has to offer you as opposed to one giant fucking plate full of food that everyone knows you're never going to finish...

they are catering to a different niche of the restaurant-going market. That niche is full of people who are willing to pay for quality over quantity. Sadly, there are fewer of us in that market sector but as was mentioned previously, Austin is a city blessed with numerous great options in both categories and there's no shortage of excellent restaurants in this town. I thanks the culinary gods for that on a regular basis!

This also makes sense. I might be somewhat less trashy if I lived somewhere that weren't, y'know, where I live now. Not much in the way of that sort of thing in this town. :)
 
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