Who’s the coolest girl ever? Caroline Ivester. Hands down.
An oil painter of huge canvases. Horses and topiaries and chairs. A cavernous loft in lower Manhattan. She inhabited the Meat Packing District before it was chic. The most sophisticated sense of style. The gorgeous South Carolina drawl. The slip-covered sofa. The dark green walls. The trellis in the dining room. The endless coffee. The smokey cigarettes. The Buddhist chant. The eucalyptus. The comfort and ease and good conversation just being with her.
One day we had a murder mystery dinner in her loft. Way too much vodka to ever figure out the killer. Giggling at the table. I may have been using a cigarette holder that evening. Caroline brings out a tray of appetizers that were pure art. Every little thing she did was magic. The Police were talking about her.
We were friends in New York City; later, friends again in LA. Then tragedy struck. Sadly, we lost touch with Caroline somewhere down the line. And we heard she quietly left this world sometime after that.
Twenty years later, Caroline remains the object of love and lore. She’s just around the corner, out of sight for a bit. Giving Biscuit a pet. Drinking her tenth cup of coffee. Patting the sofa and inviting me to sit down beside her for a quiet chat.
Here’s a wonderful blog post I found about Caroline and Tom, written by their friend Michael Keilly – “Tea with Tom and Caroline”: http://www.michaelkeilly.com/2012/10/tea-with-tom-caroline.html
And another, “Get Them to the Griff”: http://www.michaelkeilly.com/2013/10/get-them-to-griff.html
And here is Caroline quoted in The New York Times, of course: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/nyregion/new-york-still-beckons-the-nation-s-young.html
I beg forgiveness of everyone whose photos of Caroline I have snagged online to include here; I didn’t want to risk never seeing them again if your blogs go down. Apologies as well to anyone aghast that my tribute to Caroline is on my recipe blog. The thing is that Caroline did give me this recipe. Sometimes I guess you’re left with a painting and a recipe. It’s a blessing to have a recipe. Whenever I make it, I try to make it look beautiful. It’s a very creative dish.