Spring Sips

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The 2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger that has a label that's also quite beautiful.
The 2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger that has a label that’s also quite beautiful.

2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger

With the temperatures soaring shockingly high this month, I couldn’t wait to open a bottle of something chilled, and loaded with citrus and minerality.

That it came bearing a beguiling name just sealed the deal.

I’m talking about a sample bottle I received of the 2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger of which you’ll definitely want to make its acquaintance.

It’s a blend of 60 percent Gruner Veltliner, 30 percent Sauvignon Blanc, and 10 percent Albarino grapes harvested from the San Luis Obispo Coast and Edna Valley.

Cadre Wines was founded in 2020 by third-generation vintner John Niven and his wife, Lucy, who took out a second mortgage to do so. His grandfather Jack Niven planted the historic Paragon Vineyard in the Edna Valley AVA in 1973, one of the first vineyards in that region that pioneered the production of cool-climate varietals.

Now, John and Lucy Niven have followed in those footsteps, making it their mission to produce unoaked, cool-climate aromatic white from California’s coolest grape-growing region with their vineyards planted just two miles from the Pacific Ocean.

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A Salute to the Small, But Mighty, Kumquat

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A quick and easy, sweet and tangy kumquat sauce dresses up salmon.
A quick and easy, sweet and tangy kumquat sauce dresses up salmon.

In the world of cookbooks, “Citrus, Illustrated” (Chronicle Books) takes up little space.

This compact cookbook, of which I received a review copy, is the size of my outstretched hands and contains all of 35 recipes.

So, in this wisp of a book that spotlights citrus of all sorts, I felt it only appropriate that I hone in on the smallest one: kumquats.

Plus, I think they’re adorable looking, and are so beguiling with their topsy-turvy flesh that’s acidic and rind that’s sweet. Frankly, I just love popping one whole into my mouth to enjoy its burst of flavor.

This fun little book is by George Geary, who was an award-winning pastry chef for a decade with the Walt Disney Company.

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The Surprise of Safar by Karimi

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The very showy betel leaf chaat that arrives at the table in a cloud of dry ice.
The very showy betel leaf chaat that arrives at the table in a cloud of dry ice.

At Cupertino’s Safar by Karimi, you’ll find delicious North Indian and Pakistani dishes, as well as a sleek bar with modern chandeliers.

But what you won’t find is beer, wine or any alcohol.

Or any pork for that matter.

That’s because the restaurant, which opened last December, is halal.

While it doesn’t explicitly spell that out on the menu or on its website, you get the gist immediately when you look over the beverage menu, which offers plenty of teas, lassi variations, and non-alcoholic coolers blended in-house, but nothing at all boozy.

Look for the sign on Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Look for the sign on Stevens Creek Boulevard.
The bar.
The bar.

Far from turning off potential customers, it seems to be bringing them in if last week was any indication when the restaurant was bustling with folks coming in to break the fast at sunset for Ramadan. That’s when I dined, having been invited as a guest of the restaurant.

The restaurant was opened by three brothers: Rifakat Saiyed, Ashfak Saiyed, and Yunus Saiyed. They also operate the more casual Karimi Restaurant in downtown San Jose, The Cupertino restaurant on Stevens Creek Boulevard has the bonus of having its own parking lot, too.

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A Beautiful Jolt of Green

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A bit of green for the holiday -- or any day.
A bit of green for the holiday — or any day.

Some people like to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

Me? I like to eat it.

As in matcha.

And you thought I was going to say “kale,” right?

On a holiday all about revelry, I choose to let loose with slices of tender “Matcha Latte Loaf.”

The recipe is from “Dorie’s Anytime Cakes” (Harvest, 2025), of which I received a review copy. It’s by the incomparable Dorie Greenspan, of course, the five-time James Beard Award-winning cookbook writer and baking authority.

As the title implies, it’s a collection of recipes for cakes of all shapes and sizes that really satisfy — without being too complicated or cumbersome to make.

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These Cookies Get A Little Bling

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Cookie stamps give these cookies a showy appearance. But you can also flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass.
Cookie stamps give these cookies a showy appearance. But you can also flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass.

“I Want to Eat Cookies.”

That’s the title of this cookbook (Hardie Grant, 2025), of which I received a review copy.

But it could just as easily be my daily mantra.

Because left to my own devices, I would eat cookies every day — morning, noon and night.

Good thing this purse-sized book has more than 90 recipes to tempt should I ever make good on that.

The cookbook is by Ellen Morrissey, a New York City-based writer and editor who is a former editorial director for special projects for Martha Stewart Living.

You’re sure to find just the cookie to satisfy your sweet tooth from a collection that includes “Brown Butter and Toffee Chip Cookies,” “Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Meringues,” “Whisky Currant Shortbread,” “Sugar-Spiced Grahams,” and “Yo Yos with Berry Buttercream.”

With a half-full bag of masa harina in the freezer, I couldn’t help but want to give “Glazed Masa Harina Cookies” a try.

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