It was early afternoon in Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2011. We had had lunch with our friends who told us about a woman who lived in a chapel round the corner and gave dinner parties for twenty-five people, cooked by her, and lit only by candlelight. We should meet her, they said. They had spoken to her that morning and she was expecting us. We called her several times and we pressed bells, shouted and knocked on her door. She finally answered a call and said, "Give me a moment while I get dressed." This is how she appeared. Encouraged by Caroline to take her picture, I am not sure I would have photographed her if she had appeared in something more conventional when greeting strangers. But the face went with the outfit, I thought, and I asked her to stand in the doorway.
We never received an invitation to dinner which was disappointing but maybe her living in the chapel was brought to an early end by a landlord or by the authorities and she never found another place to seat 25.
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