Brazilian Bananas but no Shampoo Models need apply

Once a year we are have visiting medical students from Sao Paolo, Brazil come and pay us a two month visit so that they can learn some research.  They are from the Santa Casa de Misericordia.  It looks like it translates as the Holy House of Misery but in truth Misericordia is the word for mercy.  It's more fun to call it the house of misery though.  Today our resident Brazilian student researcher was signed up for cake hour and decided to order ahead.  We suggested Pastiche on Federal Hill and since we haven't had one of their banana cream pies in awhile we went with that. She dutifully called them and ordered the large one for the next day.

A brand that we like to see!

What's in the box!

It's Brazilian banana cream pie!

This really is a great creation.  It looks good and tastes good. It is a flan shell with a pile o' bananas on the bottom that is covered with a decent layer of banana mousse (or something similar) and then all that is slathered with a bunch of real whipped cream. Finally it is drizzled with caramel sauce  It's fruity thereby good for you and creamy thereby bad for you.  But it is ultimately fabulous and we highly recommend it.  It also presents well looking like one of those fake volcanoes you make a kid that then spurts out something like dry ice.  It did not take long for it to disappear.

Pile high with a caramel drizzle!

Three layers good to bad from bottom to top!

In a short time this was all that was left!

I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed it and I'm sorry if you didn't!

Today was also a notable for being a big hair day. The first picture below shows the breadth and width of hair one of our cacklers could achieve by making a sudden turn. Her hair is very curly and if left unchecked can be truly uncontrollable. Straightening said hair would probably take days if not a toxic waste dump's worth of chemicals. We don't know what prompted her to suddenly turn and cause the hair to whirl about wide but whatever it was our Brazilian hostess doesn't seem too pleased.

A sudden turn and that hair goes flying!

Nevertheless, the picture was inspirational to some of us we got to wondering and then trying to see if anyone else could emulate the whirling hair a là all those girls in shampoo commercials. Take a look at the results.

I can do it and smile at the same time!

Good air on one side at least!

The guys get into the swing of things!

Not quite the same effect!

Here's the windup....

....and the pitch!

I hope she's not suffocating!

The goal is to see the face!

It's a little better!

Another fail - I don't think the shampoo models are in any danger!