— Mitch Miglis

I run into this same sort of thing, Mitch, and so I, I understand, uh, where you're coming from. My approach is pretty simple in that, um, you know, I'll, I'll have various grains on hand, or maybe I'll cycle them out, you know, uh, over time, and I'll just, like, I'll just, you know, stick 'em in there, just, uh, interject them, uh, in whatever preparation I'm making. So, you know, instead of the brown rice, quinoa, or farrow, you know, now I'm using millet or something else. And, um, and then I get to, I get to get used to it at that point, right? Because, uh, the, the cooking is different. The grain to water ratio is different, the cooking time is different. Um, you know, maybe the, the finished texture of the grain is stickier than what I was experiencing with this other grain that I was using. And so that might then prompt me to make some tweaks to, um, this particular dish that we're talking about. And, um, so, you know, in that way, I just, um, sort of, uh, f force myself, I'll say to, you know, make these adjustments by just sticking in a, a different grain. Um, I'm one of these people that will eat anything. And, um, so I'm not offended by a different flavor or texture or aroma or look to the food. Um, I'm gonna find a way to work with it. Um, but I understand, right, if some, some folks, uh, may don't have that sort of, um, um, you know, I guess flexibility of, of the palate, which I'm fortunate to have, and you, you're gonna bump into things, you know, like, um, buckwheat groats, um, you know, can be very sticky. And they have this sort of a unique earthy quality to 'em. Um, in which case, you know, I don't need a, you, you can blend it and bring it, bring that in with, uh, some quinoa to, to lighten up the texture. Um, you know, millet can be quite nice, but if it's cooked with a lot of moisture, it gets very dense and sticky and clumpy. And so, you know, you can start to just play around, you know, with these things. Um, uh, yeah, I mean, hopefully that, uh, that sort of answers your questions and provides some inspiration on experimentation. I mean, for me, that's, that's where it is. And, um, yeah, see where this takes you. Uh, I find it to be a lot of fun, uh, to just look up grains once in a while to try to find something that maybe I've never used or maybe I haven't used in 20 years. And I'll, I'll jump online and, and order a small package and, uh, just tinker with that for a while. And, um, so, you know, in that way, I, I kind of keep myself fresh, uh, in terms of the culinary activity, and I, I hope you'll do the same.