Oskar Blues signs a letter of intent to build a restaurant in Boulder’s Depot Square development, while at the same time announcing plans to build a new facility across the country in North Carolina. Dry Dock Brewing announces expansion to a new building in Aurora that will increase production to try to keep up with demand.

When you get the family and friends together this summer to char up brats or make a pot of homemade spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage, there’s a good chance some of those links will have come from a local maker with ties to the area stretching back half a century.

Plastered with a reputation for plainness, a plant with a fairly short history of use is anything but. When studying vanilla, one discovers definitions that complement and clash when describing the world of this fairly ubiquitous taste. Its name even holds a dirty little secret.

“We’ve all noticed asparagus and pineapples in December in the supermarkets,” says Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). A visit to supermarkets finds frozen vegetables from across the globe, including Canada, China, Egypt, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Poland.

Boulder was voted “foodiest town in America” by Bon Appétit in 2010, so it is hardly a surprise that the local food business is competitive. Only the toughest survive.

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink.

It isn’t tough to spot the food writers at Brasserie Ten Ten on a sunny Sunday. Buddy Thomas’ professional Nikon sits on the table, ready to snap oysters, mussels and whatever brunch is going to be. And Thomas and fellow blogger Paul McCullough both sport homemade T-shirts with BoulderFoodBlog.

The point of Taste of Pearl, which will be held for the third time this Sunday, April 22, is to draw people out for an exploration of the many offerings of Pearl Street. They might just discover something new.

I should have known better. My cousin’s seemingly casual invitation was too intent on success, the gleam in her eye a bit too bright. “Take a bite,” she said, holding out the stalk of rhubarb.

It’s the summer of homebrewers. Or, more accurately, it’s the summer they’re stepping out. Starting in about a week, when BRU Beer will open its first taps, three new breweries will emerge in Boulder County’s already busy beer scene.