Strong Food Opinions and My Relationship with Coffee.

People who really know me know that I have very specific opinions when it comes to food and drink. Here are just a few of the many that stand out and are common knowledge in my circle of family and friends:

• I hate all doughnut related items - funnel cakes, honey buns, cinnamon rolls, basically all pastries. Hate them, don't want to taste them/smell them/see them. 
• I highly dislike hot dogs. 
• I am not a fan of lemon flavored things unless it is lemonade. One of the worst food experiences is when I go to eat what I think is a vanilla cupcake and discover it is actually lemon. Since that has happened to me far too many times, now if I am in a place where there are ambiguous cupcakes you will find me sniffing them before I touch them. If it smells like lemon at ALL, I run. 
• I would rather not have anything pumpkin-related. I like the smell, not the taste. (Please re-visit this post concerning fall decor for more information on my relationship with pumpkins.)
• I say no to raisins. Oatmeal raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are another mean food trick.
• Coke > Pepsi. Diet Coke >>>> Diet Pepsi. BUT, Wild Cherry Pepsi > Cherry Coke. I know, this is weird. (I feel like I'm betraying NC, because we are the home of Pepsi. So at least I like one Pepsi product.)
• I am all about the icing when it comes to cake - thick, rich, buttercream is my jam. But I'd honestly rather have a cupcake than cake...even though it's just cake in cup form. Why is that??
• And the last one for today - I have never, ever liked any drop of coffee taste in anything ever.

That's where I need to make an announcement. 

There have been some changes in my life.

Concerning coffee.

I ACTUALLY ALMOST LIKE IT NOW.

Wow, it feels so weird to share that. But it's true. I have always been that person who can taste the tiniest bit of coffee flavor no matter how chocolatey a drink is. But this summer, on July 23, 2013, that all changed.

My cousin Shuford (you may have heard of him, he's awesome) convinced me to try a mocha frappe from McDonald's when we were on our beach vacation. You know that thing that's basically a chocolate milkshake with a hint of coffee flavor? Yeah, that.

To make a long story short shorter, I'll just say that I ended up getting three throughout that week. At first the taste still bothered me a little bit, but by the third one I really, really liked it. Really. 

Which then led me to try a frozen mocha at my favorite Apex coffee shop Wake Zone Espresso. And at Thanks A Latte, my favorite in Holly Springs. Which then encouraged me to try the Java Chip frappuccino at Starbucks. 

And now that it's September, I moved on to the Salted Caramel Mocha at Starbucks.

And it's probably the best liquid I've ever put in my mouth.

I'm obsessed and could drink it every single day, multiple times a day. I'm in trouble. 

I still don't think I could drink a regular cup of coffee with just cream and sugar and especially not black, but it's progress. Progress that I honestly never wanted to make because I don't want to get hooked on coffee. (Isn't it amazing that I never drank coffee in college?) We don't have a coffee maker, Jordan doesn't like it, I'm just not ready for that. But we'll see where this journey takes me.

I'll keep you posted. 

Do you have foods/drinks that you've had an interesting relationship with? Did you have a coffee turning point in your life? Enlighten me.