New Location!!!

New Orleans' newest bed and breakfast

I know, I know.  The posting on this blog has been spotty of late.  That's because I have been writing over here at La Belle Esplanade.  This blog has wandered off into my peripheral vision as I enter into my new career as an innkeeper.

Mrs. King and I are proud custodians of a historic property on picturesque Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.  We have completed some extensive renovations and we are open for business as a historic New Orleans bed and breakfast with five two-room suites with private balconies and lush gardens in the back.

While the La Belle Esplanade blog does detail what we are doing around the property to make it a showplace and headquarters for visitors to our fair city, the content is still full of that odd Whalehead magic, turns of phrase, and interesting (to me) explorations of our neighborhood and the city at large.  Check it out.  Balaenius Rex!

If you know anyone who is visiting New Orleans and you think they will appreciate staying in a living neighborhood close by the majority of usual tourist destinations, feel free to direct them to our website.  The url?  Why, it is whaleheading.com, 'natch.  We serve a different breakfast every day featuring locally produced items procured from farmers, nearby bakeries, and restaurants.  The furnishings are a mix of period antiques and curios in a very convenient location.  We offer complimentary bicycles for people who want to explore New Orleans in the round.

Be a New Orleanian wherever you are.

A votre sante, and,
With a handshake,
Matthew "Whalehead" King

Enola Gay

Joan of Arc had a heart.

Sometimes, you just have to be what you are.  If it isn't beef or ham, you can bet it tastes like chicken.

Have I mentioned I'm a big Big Freedia fan?  Someone is listening to "Rumpshakerz" in their car at the traffic light in front of my house.  I am doing what comes naturally.  If you've got it, shake it like you mean it.

Enola Gay:

Ursulines Avenue, New Orleans.

Saint Ursula.

I've spent my share of time on Ursulines Avenue, riverside of North Claiborne Avenue.  It is a magnificent street, majestic in what it promises.  From North Claiborne to Bayou Saint John, it is a pleasant thoroughfare to traverse.  It is wide, and, relatively, pothole-free.

Many people walk the length of Esplanade Avenue, another picturesque street running through this part of New Orleans. Walk a few blocks in the uptown direction and sample Ursulines Avenue.  This is New Orleans living, raw and undiluted, beautiful.  As the route shifts from sun to shade, it mutates along with the varying ways of life that makes New Orleans great.

History resides along Ursulines Avenue, and the blocks that branch off of it.  Take time to admire and venerate the Saint Ann Shrine at North Johnson Street.  Enjoy it all.  Be alive.  New Orleans is made of many parts, all of them important.

Buying turkey in New Orleans.

Turkey cutlets

It is too early in the day to report what the Littlest Ninja's odometer reads today.  The day's journeys are not yet done.  I do want to take an aside to discuss turkey consumption in New Orleans, however.  It seems to be impossible to get turkey cutlets in the Crescent City.  New Englanders know what I mean: just cuts of breast meat without bones or skin.  New Orleanians appear to only consume whole anatomical parts, based on my shopping experiences.

I got a flyer from the Ideal Discount Meat Market in the mail today (2436 Ursuline Avenue at Rocheblave Street).  The front page is dedicated to a preponderance of meat on sale this week.  There are also specials on noodles, milk, liquor, cold cuts, and soda.  Most of it is meat.  The turkey being promoted consists of turkey necks (5 lbs for $4.99) and turkey wings (5 lbs for $5.99).  I haven't been in the Ideal Market, though it is close enough to my home.  As mentioned yesterday, I don't eat a lot of meat.  The interior of the flyer is dedicated to meat combination specials.  I know I've described this New Orleans phenomenon before, but here is the Ursulines Special (named after the street rather than the nuns, I presume).

Ursulines Special:

5 lbs. pickled tips (I still don't know what this is but I assume it is pork)
5 lbs. leg quarters (chicken?  I don't know)
5 lbs. turkey wings
5 lbs. drumsticks (could be turkey, could be chicken... no illustration provided)
5 lbs. ground meat (I assume beef, but there may some truth in advertising here)
5 lbs. center cut pork chops
5 lbs. pickled tails (I believe this also refers to pork, I've seen jars of them on shelves)
5 lbs. gravy steak (beef?  I'm not familiar with this)
5 lbs. smoked sausage
5 lbs. pigs' feet
5 lbs. neck bones (I think these are pork bones)
5 lbs. chicken wings
5 lbs. turkey necks
5 lbs. seven steaks (again, I assume this is beef, but I'm unfamiliar with the teminology)
5 lbs ham seasoning (I cannot even venture a guess; it could be ham bones for beans or spices for ham)
Free 24 cans of Faygo (this is a fruit-flavored, carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage I've never tried)
$129.99


While I'm sure this would feed a family for a long while at a considerable savings, if my refrigerator was stocked with these things, even the ones I can identify, I would probably eat out or go hungry.  I am a stranger in a strange land.  I'm not complaining.  Not a day goes by that I don't say, "I love it here." Despite that, I do find it hard to get something that I look forward to eating.  While I am an omnivore, I'm a finicky one.  Of course, I haven't yet lived here a full year.

All in good time...
Cheers,
WK