Our 74th “Follow them Friday” features Bart from Nullam Microwaveum who blogs in Dutch.
When did you start blogging?
I started blogging in March 2011
How did you decide on the name of your blog?
I started blogging during the cupcake hype. Since I opted for a totally different concept for my blog (real cooking, pure taste, top ingredients and recipes linked to events), I wanted to have a unique name. It’s the translation of ‘No Microwave’ in (pig) Latin
What was the title of your first ever blog post?
My first ever blogpost was about eggs in a basket, because Natalie Portman, whom you see eating eggs in a basket during the movie, was that day nominated for an Oscar for her role in ‘V for Vendetta.
Do you prefer eating in or eating out?
I really like to cook since it relaxes me, even for bigger number of people. I also like to experiment. So yes, I like to eat in. But I also like to discover new restaurants and chefs. But I have become much more selective during the last years, because of some disappointments. I really target when eating out.
What is your favourite dish to share?
I absolutely love to cook with offal (sounds great in Italian, quinto quarto) and anything that has a bone in it. I have been promoting recipes made with offal, and will keep on doing so till the end of my blogging days. I am glad to see that since a couple of years chefs have started to put offal back on their menus. I have always said that my last supper would have to consist of roasted veal marrow bones with a salsa from capers, Italian parsley and shallots. Or the veal marrow bones with a red miso glaze
What is your favourite comfort food?
A lot of to choose from, but I would go for a brasata al Barolo.
What is your favourite dessert?
Funny enough, I am not a dessert person, but if I have to choose something, it would be a well executed moelleux.
How do you like your eggs in the morning?
Definitely sunny side up
Was there a particular dish that got you into cooking?
Not a particular dish, but the contact with foreign cuisines. I traveled a lot, tasted a lot of dishes and learned a lot of foreign kitchen techniques. So I wanted to apply new ingredients and techniques to our classical recipes. A kind of fusion avant la lettre. And I can spend hours developing a new spice mix. It is more like lab work but the satisfaction when you get it right is very rewarding.
What has been your biggest recipe failure?
A friend of mine is crazy about red velvet cupcakes. During a heated discussion on how cooking is actually not so difficult (according to me), she challenged me to make red velvet cupcakes, but not from a package. In case I lost, I was to publish a pink recipe a day during one week. . I had never made cupcakes before and they did not turn out great. So I lost the bet, hence the ‘Nullam goes Pink’ week and 7 pink recipes.
What is your earliest food memory?
My earliest food memory is not a recipe, but a smell. My parents always had a lot of visitors during the day and my mother was a very good cook. So there was always something cooking in our house, whether it was soups, breads, desserts or stews. Funny enough, my mother did not teach my anything cooking wise. But she gave me my grandmother’s handwritten recipes books, a real treasure.
What are the three things you always have in your freezer?
Ice cubes, carcasses and bones and stock
How do you spend your time when you’re not blogging?
When I am not blogging, I spend my time reading (a lot) and working on my photography projects (a lot).
Who are your favourite non-food bloggers?
Well, I don’t read a lot of food- or other blogs because of a lack of time, so when I do read blog articles, they are from bloggers out of my comfort zone and blogs/bloggers that are a bit quirky. I often smile when reading Mama expert blog (I like her sense of humor and her sometimes twisted take on things). I will also visit Fairygodmotherr’s blog, to see what’s living amongst the young people and how she is building her social media audience. And I also like to read the stories from my cocktail buddies and master spirits philosophers, Rolf “Your fix is in our mix” Schollaert of the Cocktail Nation and Yves ‘Sid Frisjes’ of Tales from the home bar
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