Had she lived to see her 80th birthday, Laurie Colwin would no doubt be baking her own cake. Towards the end of “How to Give a Party”—one of many memorable chapters in Colwin shares: “My birthday is sort of a makeshift affair. My favorite cake is gingerbread with chocolate icing, and I make the cake the night before.
” She goes on to describe the thick raspberry jam filling and the “plain butter, sugar and chocolate icing,” which sound perfectly delicious and appropriately celebratory for any age. While tempted to fixate on the cake, I find myself even more intrigued by the description of Colwin’s own birthday as a “makeshift affair.” Rather than being fussed over, she takes charge of her own celebration and makes do with what’s on hand.
In this way, she rises above the plight of Polly (Solo-Miller) Demarest in s, who annually receives a desultory “breakfast in bed on her birthday,” though she will craft the meticulous celebrations of others. As Polly’s sister-in-law recalls, “I remember when you made the barnyard lunch for Dee-Dee’s birthday. When you had pigs made of eggs dipped in beetroot juice and a pig yard made of spinach and a little fence of fried potatoes.
That was an enchantment. It made me feel my girlhood once more.” Like Polly, Colwin had the uncanny ability to create enchantment, but for herself as well as others.
The delicate china teacups, a lovingly roasted chicken, or Holly Sturgis’s perfect picnic at the end of , which in.
