Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind is a fun, suspensful and rollicking novel which at its heart is about the love of books and storytelling. The novel was originally written and Spanish and translated. I usually like to read novels in their original language, but this translation was great and felt really natural. The book takes place in Barcelona and tells the story of Daniel, a lonely son of a bookdealer, as his obsession with a mysterious novel takes him on a dark journey as he grows from boy into man. The Barcelona in the book is a moody, damaged place still unsure of its future after civil war and fascism. Food does have a place in the book, mainly as the subject of desire and enthusiasm of Daniel's strange and amusing friend - Fermin. Fermin provides the heart of the book as well as its comic relief. He has a big appetite and often requires Daniel to stop on their adventures for a bite to eat. They seem to eat a lot of spanish ham sandwiches, but that seemed to boring for the blog (and I doubt I could get my hands on real spanish ham). So I went with a traditional spanish tapas, codfish fritters, made with salt cod. These were easy, though you must plan ahead since the cod must be soaked for several days before cooking.
