Cool Idea

I hope that you find this an interesting twist for a food blog.  Really, my blog is just anything that I have an idea/opinion/care/concern about.....well you know what I mean.  Food tends to be central because really good home-cooked, borderline gourmet is one of my passions.  My other passion is reading finely written literature and trying to copy the masters and write a book of my own.  While I am slow at finishing my first book (just getting to chapter 3 and I haven't let anyone take a peek yet), I read other's works voraciously.  I thought that I would combine my two passions and follow a recipe that relates to my recent read.  I just finished "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.....oh my goodness, what a treat.  This book follows along the gothic lines and is a throw back to some of the great gothic novels of our time (do you really know Mary Shelley's Frankenstein....really???  It is not the hollywood version....read the original sometime).

Back to Zafon's novel.  Pick it up at Barnes and Nobles or order off of Amazon.  I promise that you will not be disappointed.  Zafon was born in Barcelona (that is Spain for all of you other geographically challenged folks out there).  "The Shadow of the Wind" is the most successful novel in Spanish publishing history AFTER "Don Quixote"....pretty good company, I'd say.  It is a gloomy mystery that combines a lost book, two previous lives, romance, lost love, death, and all other good, scary thoughts.

To follow along with my theme of combining my love of a good book with my love of a good bite of food.  I have a simple Spanish bread recipe (Pa Amb Tomaquet) that apparently is something that Spaniards "never leave home without"....

Toast hearty french bread slice and rub with a clove of garlic.  Then cut a very ripe tomato in half and squeeze the contents over the toasted, garlicky bread.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt and have fun!!!  Because I never cook a recipe exactly as I read it (this one is courtesy of recipezaar.com), I also chopped up some black and calamata olives and spread on the top with a very thin slice of wonderful vine-ripe tomato (even extra yummy).  Pair with my "wine of the week"......

Enjoy!!!!