String beans, four varieties

I picked up four different varieties of string beans today.  They are (clockwise from the upper left) Romanos, Blue Lakes, French (aka haricot verts) and yellow wax. For Thanksgiving tomorrow, I'm going to make a dish with a mixture of three of the four, all except the Romanos, which are tougher and call for a different treatment. I'd like to make my dish (very simple: steaming them and topping them with minced sweet red Lipstick peppers and thinly sliced onions that have been sauted in butter, salt, pepper and toasted almonds) with just the yellow wax and the French beans, but the latter are priced out of my budget.  So I'll bulk it up with the Blue Lakes. Two farmers at the market today were selling French, or haricot vert, beans. One had priced his at a whopping $8 per pound.  They were tinier than these, which I picked up for the "bargain" price of $5 per pound.  (The pile in the lower right corner above cost me $1.80.)

Price: $1.50-$5/lb.

Radishes

Radishes are available in the market year-round but now, as the weather cools, they're entering their prime.  I picked up some purple, white and conventional round red ones, plus the long red one and the big ones at top, sold by Brier Patch, called watermelon radishes. They taste a little sour in my opinion but thinly sliced on a platter with the others, they're spectacular looking and quite the conversation piece.  The long red ones (the vendor didn't know what variety they are) are very spicy and strong-tasting -- not my cup of tea.  The best of the bunch?  The big round red ones, which are crisp and mild, of course with a touch of radishy bite.

Price: $.75 for the long red one; $2.50 for the bundle of watermelon radishes; $.50-$1/bunch for the others.