But, because it’s what I do when I cook, I consulted a book: Great British Cooking by Jane Garmey. I am English and learned at my mother’s knees, along with how to eat marmite and make a nice cup of tea. (Yes, cucumber is a fruit according to Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge). When Lady B complains, Algie’s manservant, a literary forebear of Jeeves, comes to the rescue and says there were no cucumbers at the market that day, “not even for ready money.” I have an image of the man standing around Covent Garden, brandishing a fistful of pounds notes in a vain effort to score some forbidden fruit. Algernon is expecting his Aunt Augusta, the alarming Lady Bracknell, for tea.* Before she arrives, Jack Worthing turns up and eats all the sandwiches. The cucumber sandwich is famous in literature for its star turn in The Importance of Being Earnest.
The famous English afternoon tea didn’t come into fashion until the 1840s and cucumber is the quintessential English tea sandwich. I’m guessing they weren’t around in the Regency. I don’t know when the cucumber sandwich was invented.
We’re not talking the average romance reader here and I figured it could be a tough crowd, so I decided to soften them up with cucumber sandwiches. Now understand, they live in Hanover, New Hampshire, the small town that is home to Dartmouth College.
My friends Gavin and Deborah gave a party to promote The Wild Marquis.
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