Shiv

I'm a married, 30-something business analyst currently living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I have one dog and no children.

I love cooking, knitting, sewing, and all sorts of miscellaneous crafty pursuits.

I'm also interested in Irish history, U.S. politics, obscure quotations, Boston, ice hockey, gadgetry, obscure foreign words, finger puppets, spiral-bound university-branded notebooks (any university!), and handwritten letters.

I have a deep and abiding love of cookbooks, especially those focusing on a single region, culture or historical era. I also love old family recipes.

Also, Victorian British literature, Pride & Prejudice, the Palliser novels, Anna Karenina, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, the Fountainhead, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, and cheesy historical romance novels

In Search of Perfection, Meerkat Manor, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy, MASH, CSI, MacGyver, Jamie at Home, and almost anything on the Food Network. Except Iron Chef America - that sucks.

In no particular order - Slapshot, Princess Bride, Pride & Prejudice (the BBC version with Colin Firth), the Horatio Hornblower movies, Gross Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Spaceballs, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

U2, They Might Be Giants, Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Clash, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, the Wolfe Tones, Moxy Fruvous, B.B. King, the Police, Genesis, KT Tunstall

Milk chocolate, white chocolate, ginger, mint, caramel, jelly things (jelly beans, gumdrops, etc), fruity things, marshmallow, Indian/Thai/Chinese foods, and spicy things. I love to try new foods, especially from cultures different from my own! Did I mention caramel?

Tea! I'm partial to herbal, red and green teas, but anything out of the ordinary is welcome.

Handmade items are always great, too.

I absolutely love CurlyWurly and Galaxy bars!

Dark chocolate, coconut, coffee, licorice, marzipan, sour things, nuts other than peanuts, artificial sweeteners, stuffed animals (unless they're homemade), oversized jewelry, excessively flowered or cutesy things. Also, please no religious items, unless they're of cultural or historical significance.