Bewitched in New Orleans

The Pudding Lady

I don't like to write in dialect the way that it makes Mark Twain difficult to read, dropping the 'g's to replace them with commas.  It I were to write the Pudding Lady's name correctly, it would be as the "Puddin' Lady"  After all, she's the lady who runs the Puddin' Shop.  Plus, spellcheck keeps automatically putting the g into puddin' after I've moved onto the next few words (I type that fast) and then I have to go back and manually correct.  Such is the life of a professional writer.  I know you feel your humble narrator's pain.



Remember our last installment?  The one in which I wrote how much I love to write the title of a particular song: Secret...AGENT MAN!  Well, we have agents all over the city who do some legwork for us.  One of them is the Pudding Lady.  That's not her real name.  It's her code name.

My code name is Your Humble Narrator.  Frau Schmitt's code name is Frau Schmitt.  Tammie the Housekeeper's code name is Agent 11.  She snorts when I call her that.  One time, I called her that when she was drinking hot coffee and it came out her nose.  She's going to love reading this in print.  I'm not telling you to embarrass her, only to illustrate how much she puts up with my shenanigans.  She also hates it when I use this picture whenever I mention her in the blog, and I haven't mentioned her for too long a time.

Tammie the Housekeeper

Thank you, Tammie, for everything you do to keep the inn running shipshape, on schedule and under budget. 

The Pudding Lady was down in Armstrong Park on Thursday, peddling bread pudding to the people who came to enjoy Jazz in the Park every Thursday.  She knows a family we used to know, a couple from Thailand who makes a very special flower-shaped rice cracker that was a hit with our guests last year.  The market where we met the couple closed and the Pudding Lady has located them for us again. The Pudding Lady dropped off two boxes of rice flower crackers (which are about 3 inches across and look nothing like a Ritz, they're prettier and sweeter) on our doorstep.  

A view of La Belle Esplanade's breakfast buffet

Thanks, Pudding Lady.  Thanks, again.  

We get intelligence from all over the city about where the best breakfast items might be found.  Then, we go to investigate.  Wherever I can find the best gossip and the best goods, that's where I point my motor scooter ever morning.  I'm not going to over-romanticize what we do, but we have an extensive network of fellow-agents and goodwill collaborators who help us provide an interesting and varied breakfast that gives our guests a taste of New Orleans culture and neighborhoods.  

When you stay at La Belle Esplanade, you are in New Orleans.  You aren't in grandma's house and you aren't in a chain hotel.  We're quirky.

Joan of Arc's birthday is coming up.  There is going to be a fairly low-key commando ceremony and parade in the French Quarter (no permit or police escort).  I can't tell you when or where it's going to take place.  If I did, it wouldn't be commando.  Keep your eyes open.

Joan of Arc statue in the French Quarter

When you spend time in New Orleans, whether you are visiting or you live here, you never know what you'll stumble into.  We try to know everything, but we know we can't know everything.  Confucius said, "Know what you know and know what you do not know.  That is true wisdom."  There is just too, too much going on.  The city is a kaleidoscope.  I know I've said that before, but it's true.

You will be bewitched, bothered and bewildered.


Good memories are made in New Orleans.  Especially on Esplanade Avenue.  

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.