I keep seeing people say Tiramisu is passe, or something equally silly. I think silly, at any rate. I don't, as it happens, have a recipe. I've searched and found many - my favourite being the one that said that if you'd made coffee to dip the biscuits in to drink it, and make espresso - but who does one trust? And what if one's love life hinged - maybe - on making it brilliantly?

I trust you guys, of course. Well, most of you! If you have a recipe for real Tiramisu (none of this coffee and ricotta stuff) post. Please!

I am making biscuits using beer as the liquid. I'm thinking leave it at that, so the beer flavour is obvious. Perhaps, though, I should look at adding some seasoning to the batter as well. The dish they are going with is chicken and onions in cider, if that helps with suggestions!

No, I don't want to be the only one who uses it. Nor to I wish to make (if nuking even counts as making) everyone's lunch.

No, what I want is the power to say what can and cannot be nuked. F'rinstance: I happen to love curries. So nuke away, the only drawback is my lunch may not seem as yummy anymore, now that I'm thinking of curry.

Not so good? The damn fish that one co-worker has every day. Nearly every day. Frozen fish filets, and it never smells fresh. I have been told that flash frozen on a processing ship makes for really fresh fish. Not what he gets. Or maybe microwaving makes it seem - or at least smell - like way past best before date fish.

I occasionally - despite just moving into an apartment and SWEARING not to buy more kitchen gear - buy some gadget or other to add to my collection.

I just got (hooray for parcels arriving at the office!) two things: a mini-financier pan, because...well, I want to make actual financiers. And since I was buying the one, and the shipping cost seemed high for one thing I also got a mini-pyramid mould pan too. Silicone, both of them.

What would you make in the pyramid one, to test them out?

I got a gift (?) at Christmas of a litre bottle of lemon juice. I MUCH prefer to use actual lemons for lemon juice, but have resorted to the little lemon shaped bottle on occasion. But a litre? What on earth do I do with that? Bleach my hair? Clean something?

I have a Cuisinart rotisserie oven. They booklet has recipes, but no simple chart of x minutes per pound for beef, chicken, etc. I hate guessing, as I've overcooked one porc roast and undercooked a second. The latter went back on, but that lost a lot of the juiciness of the roast. I did email the company, but never heard back. Anyone out there perfected general times?

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I have an allergy to sodium nitrite/nitrate. Makes for interesting conversations to overhear, as my kids talk about death bacon and non-death bacon. But on to the question:

For the first time since the allergy was diagnosed* I have found non-lethal pastrami. I'm very excited, particularly as two of my best selling breads are rye. It used to make me a little sad when it was baking, thinking about how yummy deli sandwiches are. Unless they kill you. Which would not make them any less yummy, I guess, just lest desirable!

The problem is....I can't remember what my favourite Montreal deli put on its pastrami on rye (yes, you can want a change from Montreal smoked beef, particularly if you live where its always available). I haven't had their sandwich since I left Quebec in 1979, and no pastrami in any form since 1987.

What would you put on/in your first pastrami sandwich in decades?

*at the same time diagnosed same problem with...pickled herring. Not such a big deal, yes? I don't like it anyway, and I don't think I've ever asked "so, any pickled herring in that chili?".

I have a friend with Celiac's. A friend of her decided (despite my friend being famous for not baking at all, ever) that a helpful gift would be a 40 pound bag of corn flour. Yup, forty pounds. Not four, forty.

I've been searching for recipes - I don't think she'd want me to however many tortillas 40 pounds would make - to make things for her. I'm having a real struggle, even with the vast interwebs as so many of the recipes I've found are talking about corn starch, which is not what I'm looking for.

But you guys...betcha there are tons of recipes that y'all know about. Am I right? Are there?

I live in a city (Regina, SK, Canada) but it is a city with a number of limitations when it comes to buying unusual ingredients. Anything Asian or Indian I'm covered. Even Middle Eastern is not too bad - although I still can't get pomegranate molasses at either of the two stores we have!

Do you have a favourite site you go to to buy things online? Would prefer a Canadian site, but American works if they'll ship here. I used to get things from Rancho Gordo, but the last order they couldn't ship so they're out for now.

I'm looking for posole and lucuma at the moment, although there always seems to be something I'm missing. There must be lots of people that don't live in or near places with endless choices. Where do you go to shop online?

I keep seeing recipes (like that raspberry muffin mix, and corn bread something) that use products from Jiffy. Only in the states? Or in Canada, but not where I live (Saskatchewan)?

I'm used to having to buy certain things in other provinces, like nitrite free ham and bacon, and Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Maybe I can find Jiffy in BC or somewhere else too? And in the end, does it matter? It's a mix, after all.

Many months ago, knowing that a house move was coming up (moving from house to apartment) I reviewed my cookbook shelves. Two shelves only, so I figured I had an average amount of cookbooks.

I decided to arrange a cookbook exchange. Everyone in all the offices brought me cookbooks they didn't want. At the next staff meeting, during the break everyone went through them, took what they wanted and at the end of the day I took the sad forgotten books to Value Village. Turns out lots of people had books to get rid of! I - unlike most - managed to get rid of my extras and NOT pick up anything new.

In July, we had a garage sale; moving date was August first-ish. As I cleared out the kitchen deciding what to keep and what to sell (and THAT'S a heartbreak and a half let me tell you!) I ended up with two fruit boxes full of cookbooks for the garage sale.

You'd think, then, that I'd have a few trusty cookbooks left to move to the new place. Particularly since looking over at my shelf here in the office I can see the cooking magazines that seemed worth keeping and half a dozen or so books. Nevertheless....

I ended up with three bankers boxes of cookbooks to move! But...but there were only two shelves to start with. Oh yeah...some in the bedroom...and a few in the living room...and in unexpected places in the kitchen. But still. I really didn't think I had that many.

Other crazy cookbook stories out there? People with enough books to build a small fort?

Just spent a fortune...again...taking myself, my son and a friend of his to supper at a local Indian (Northern) restaurant. I really need to learn to cook at home, and not just slinging stuff from a bottle onto cubed meat, either! What books do you have, or have used that your would recommend a beginner (at this cuisine, not at cooking in general) start with?

Thanks to everyone who helped convinced me that I not only wanted a D.O., but needed one. I had also asked friends the same question, and as it happens...one of them had a couple of her own, one inherited from her mother and gained another when she got married as he had one. And when they got married? Someone gave them a Kitchen Aid D.O. as a gift. And it was, as it happened, still sitting unwrapped in its dusty box. So I got to barter baking for cooking implement. Yeah me!

I don't own a Dutch oven. I'm thinking of getting one, but then again...I've made do with a large lidded sauce pan and a good cast iron skillet. Do I really need a Dutch oven too?

So what about you? Do you have one and love it? Have one and never use is? Don't have one and don't feel the need? Looking for thoughts before I shell out the money.