New York City

Last U.S stop: New York City (why do I hear the Pace Picante Salsa ad voice in my head every time I say that?)
As usual, our must-do itinerary consists of food experiences: New York style pizza, hot dogs from a street vendor, bagels and Katz Deli.  There is one non-food related item on the agenda: Lucian wants to visit Time's Square while wearing our Bierhoff Brother's Time Square Coats.  Okay, this joke has gone on too long now so I've got to include the link to the SNL skit which makes us laugh out loud but since we've over-hyped it, no one else is likely to find it funny.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/42026/saturday-night-live-coat-store

                                                                      Day 1 
                   or How we got a free dinner on our first night in New York City.
Straight off the plane to our hotel in Queens and then into Manhattan on our quest for Mihai's pizza.  As usual, he had a specific place in mind and had the address and directions all plugged into his GPS.  Sounds simple.
                                                              .....4 hours later.....
We are outside the restaurant waiting for our table, huddling under the outdoor heaters to keep ourselves warm and savoring our saliva as it is the only thing to go down our throats and into our stomachs for hours.  Disgruntled would-be patrons exit the place, complaining of the wait and at some point a guy comes out and says, in what I took as a sardonic manner, "Is there are doctor or nurse out here?"  Since he didn't seem particularly intent on getting an answer, I assumed he was making a bitter comment about the fact that we were all going to starve to death waiting to be seated and that we therefore needed medical personnel.  But a murmur began to course through the waiting crowd: "Is he serious?  Is someone injured inside?"  The consensus seemed to be yes, someone was in need of medical attention.
Now everyone who knows me is aware that when I am hungry, I am not a pleasant person to be around so it may come as no shock that my first thought was "are you kidding?  I'm not going to do CPR on someone when I haven't eaten in 9 hours."  But between the shame my family was heaping upon me (and that fact that they were saying "mom, you're a nurse!" loud enough for the gawking crowd to hear) and my own reasoning that a medical situation was likely to slow down service and therefore delay eating, I stepped forward and offered assistance.
Choking?  Seizure?  Woman in labor?  Gunshot?  Alas, no.  A young woman got overheated and (big surprise) was overly hungry and passed out.
Interventions of a professionally trained registered nurse (otherwise known as what any other person with common sense would do): put something soft under the woman's head, remove her 2 jackets, check her pulse (a little thready but otherwise normal BPM) and recommend that she eat something and not wear her wool winter coat inside an 80 degree room.
So that was done.  The real question remained: when in the heck were we going to eat???
A few minutes later we are seated and was the pizza delicious?  Yes.  Was it as good as ours?  Hmm....I've never had to wait 9 hours for mine so...no.  Cool to eat New York style pizza in New York City?  Yes.  Nicer to eat the same thing in my back yard, cooked in my pizza oven surrounded by relaxed friends and family and wearing flip flops?  Yes.
Oh, guess what?  They only accept cash.  Oh, guess what, between the subway and the bus and the hot dogs we bought from the street vendor on the way into the city (see photo#3), we had hardly enough cash for one pizza.  Oh well, water is far healthier than soda anyway, right?  And who needs doughy, empty calorie appetizers when you've recently discovered you have reached nearly 120 lbs from your road trip/4 week eating extravaganza?
At the end of the meal the waitress appears and says "The meal is on the house" and with my glucose-deprived brain I think she means that we have to go upstairs to pay.
Then I think this is some sort of apology for the ridiculously long wait but no-its for my "medical services."  I laugh out loud on the spot but they are completely serious.
The best thing about this whole event:  the look of pride and pleasure on the face of my children when they told their father "We got dinner for free because mom helped that lady.  That is so awesome!"
Indeed.

Moments before "the incident"

Er, looks like the same thing we make in our backyard

                                                          

Photo#3