For decades, I've consistently disliked dried fruit: raisins, craisins, prunes, you name it. Raisins in particular were the focus of my ire. Nothing was more disappointing to me than biting into a chocolate chip cookie, and discovering that the "chocolate chips" were actually  raisins. So sneaky! Why would anyone want to dry out a perfectly juicy grape?

All of a sudden, I've discovered a newfound taste for dried fruit. Go ahead, call me a flip-flopper, and use it against me in the fall campaign, I don't care. I'm snacking on raisins as we speak! I keep a box in my desk for when I get hungry, and at home I've been experimenting with those more upscale, resealable packs of dried fruit. I've tried out a couple of different kinds of raisins, dried mango, pineapple, dates, and have a bag of dried blueberries I'm dying to open.

In a quest for more fiber, I've even been eating California Mission figs. It tastes just like the inside of a Fig Newton, unsurprisingly. The flavor seems like it would pair well with red wine and cheese, so I have to try that sometime. I may even try the ultimate in geezer confirmation fruit: prunes. Mr. T has grown up, and is getting old, apparently.