French Breakfast Radishes and My Good Friend Joyce

Joyce.

She’s smart, kind, talented, elegant–all the things I want to be if I ever grow up.

Joyce and I used to work together. Serendipitously, her daughter was a student in one of my classes: Smart. Kind. Talented. Elegant. (It runs in the family.)

Now, in our respective retirements, our friendship has grown stronger. We’ve gotten each other through some great moments and some tough times.

To my delight, Joyce often shows up at my door bearing gifts–a delicate bouquet of sweet peas, a pitcher of fresh lemonade, special tiny socks to protect the tender (bee sting-prone) toes of Blue Cayenne’s Chief Quality Officer, Sweet Juliet.

Last week, it was a bounty from her garden. There on my doorstep was a Japanese eggplant, a bucket of perfect amber-colored (and red) grape tomatoes, and French breakfast radishes.

French breakfast radishes!

Damn.

Those have been on my bucket list forever.  (Cue in foodie bliss.)

But, then came the dilemma. What recipe was worthy of the delicate beauty and gentle bite of these home-grown treasures?

In the end, I decided to go with the classic French take on this type of radish: raw, fine fine butter, coarse-flaked Maldon salt.

The verdict? Delicieux.

Now, if I can just get Juliet to wear those sweet little socks.