Eavesdropping on a woman: “Watching ‘Duck Dynasty’ is like watching the redneck Kardashians.”

Travel + Leisure magazine continues to hand out “best places” awards to CU Boulder and its town.

In its recent issue, T+L named Boulder No. 6 in its list of “America’s Best College Towns.” The magazine said, “With its 300-plus days of sunshine each year, the gorgeous slopes of the Flatirons at the edge of town, and locals who could be cast in commercials for a healthy, active lifestyle, Boulder naturally scored near the top of the class among college towns.

“Hop on a bike from B-cycle, the town’s bike-sharing program, and cruise down Pearl Street, whose shops specialize in the local, from jewelry to cheese to beer. Treat yourself to a fresh pasta dinner at Frasca Food and Wine, one of the nation’s best Italian restaurants.

See the whole article at www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-best-college-towns-2013/7.

T+L also included CU Boulder in its list of “America’s Best College Bars.” The mag said, “Catacombs is more than a mile from the campus, hidden below the Hotel Boulderado. You won’t find much information on its website either. But none of these things matter in terms of loyal patronage.

“What you will find in this cavernous watering hole are three pool tables, two ping-pong battlegrounds, and six old-school video games, including Frogger. The bar hosts an epic karaoke night, an open-mic night, and, its biggest draw – trivia night. Oh, and the $3 microbrew happy hour probably doesn’t hurt either.”

For more information, visit www.catacombsbar.net. For the rest of the story, visit www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-best-college-bars/2.

Read about Boulder being America’s second-happiest city.

Read about Boulder being America’s least obese city.

Local band Aspen Hourglass is in contention to win Hard Rock Rising, the world’s largest battle of the bands.

Fans can vote for Aspen Hourglass on the Hard Rock Cafe Denver Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hardrock?sk=app_205164529573076, until May 7 to help the local vocals move into the top 25, and one step closer to performing in Rome. Voters also can hear Aspen Hourglass perform on Saturday on the Hard Rock Cafe Denver’s patio at the Denver Pavilions along the 16th Street Mall.

After battling it out with several of the area’s top bands at Hard Rock Cafe Denver, Aspen Hourglass is among the top winners from around the world, and is one step closer to winning the chance of a lifetime – an all-expenses paid trip to Rome, Italy, to perform at the first Hard Rock Live Rome music festival this summer. Second and third prize winners will each receive new music equipment and gear valued at $10,000.

There are still a few tickets left for the 10th annual WomenCook! benefit for Work Options for Women from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Monday, May 5, which features a walk-around style dinner by some of Denver’s most renowned, well-respected, and creative women chefs. There is also a silent auction as well as a presentation delivered by staff and students.

The tasty event takes place at Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St. Tickets are $125 each or $1,500 for table sponsorships.

Chefs for WomenCook! 2014: Alex White, Jonesy’s Eat Bar; Aniedra Nichols, Elway’s, Cherry Creek; Carrie Blake, Table 6; Craig Dixon, Cafe Options; Crickett Burns, The Truffle Table; Dana Rodriguez, Work & Class; Elise Wiggins, Panzano; Jennifer Jasinski, Euclid Hall, Bistro Vendome, and Rioja; Kathleen Kenny Davia, Gateaux; Lisa Bailey, D Bar Desserts; Mary Nguyen, Parallel Seventeen; Rachel Kesley, WaterCourse Foods; Samm Sherman, Root Down and Linger; Sandra Adams, Grand Hyatt; Sheila Lucero, JAX; Summer Polson, Project Angel Heart and Tessa Schuler, WOW Café.

For questions, comments or seating preferences, if you would like to pay by check, or for more information about event sponsorship, please contact Daisha Versaw at daisha@workoptions.org or 720-944-1921. For more information about Work Options for Women, go to www.workoptions.org.

Portland-based Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill opened its first Denver location at 1605 Wynkoop St. in the renovated One Union Station building on Tuesday.

The first restaurant in the Union Station redevelopment to open, Thirsty Lion serves lunch, happy hour and dinner. The gastropub features 8,393 square feet of interior seating, handcrafted food, 52 beers on tap and more than 2,000 square feet of downtown patio space.

“We are extremely excited to open our newest location in the Union Station neighborhood,” said Thirsty Lion CEO John Plew. “Thirsty Lion is the perfect fit for this neighborhood and we look forward to providing Denver with great service, a diverse menu, local quality ingredients, and not to mention a great selection of local craft beer.”

Thirsty Lion’s culinary commitment is to provide an eclectic variety of multi-cultural cuisines with an emphasis on local ingredients, bold flavors and scratch recipes. A seasonal fresh sheet will focus on the changing season’s offerings including fresh seafood, quality meats and local vegetables and fruits.

The bar will feature 52 beers on tap, 28 of which are from Colorado. The gastropub also features craft cocktails that utilize combinations of fresh fruit purees, juices and premium liquors, as well as 25 different wines by the glass.

“At Thirsty Lion, we work hard to combine quality ingredients and scratch recipes to create menu items that satisfy the ‘foodie’ in all of us,” said Thirsty Lion executive chef Keith Castro. “The flavor profiles are complex, yet blend well in their simplistic approach to create ‘craveable’ food; an intense desire for more.”

Open from 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. For more information visit www.thirstylionpub.com/denver.

Project Angel Heart, a non-profit organization that delivers nutritious meals to improve quality of life, at no cost, for those coping with life-threatening illnesses in the Denver Metro and Colorado Springs areas, raised more than$300,000 during its annual Dining Out For Life event on April 24.

More than 250 restaurants in the Denver Metro area and Boulder donated 25 percent of their food sales on April 24 to Project Angel Heart. An estimated 80,000-plus Coloradans attended the event.

“For 20 years, the restaurant community has been coming together to support Project Angel Heart’s home-delivered meals,” said Project Angel Heart CEO Erin Pulling. “On behalf of the 2,300 clients who will receive Project Angel Heart’s nutritious meals this year, Project Angel Heart thanks the community — restaurants, sponsors and diners — for their generous support.”

This year, guests had the option to enter a drawing to win a year’s worth of groceries from Whole Foods Market – a package valued at $2,500. The winner will be notified by July 1.  There is still time to enter by texting the word “meals” to 50155 and making a donation of any amount.

Project Angel Heart would also like to thank The Cherry Cricket and Racines for supporting Dining Out For Life for all 20 years. It would also like to thank its sponsors for helping to make it another successful event including Subaru of America, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Bellco, Republic National Distributing Company, Deep Eddy Vodka, Whole Foods, 5280 Magazine, The Denver Post, DreamWise Marketing Solutions, Out Front Colorado, Lamar, Sprint, Ad Focus and Westword.

Eavesdropping on Facebook: “In 12 years, I’ll be 100 years old.”

“Someone else is going to have to buy you a cake, because I’ll be long gone by then.”

Cindy Jones, the affable owner of the Tin Cup restaurant at Aurora Hills Golf Club, has stretched her spatula to add the eatery at Fitzsimons Golf Course to her culinary resume.

Jones, who officially took over the Fitz restaurant in January, has been sprucing up the golfers’ 19th hole and has brought the Tin Cup’s breakfast and lunch menus to the new place.

The Tin Cup, which for my money is the best public golf course restaurant in Aurora, features homemade breakfast burritos as well as house-fried tortilla chips and house-made salsa, with several grab and go items for golfers on their way to the next hole.

Jones also hired Rose Decker, who famously worked at the long-gone Plainsman in Aurora for 20 years, as the manager at the newly named Tin Cup 2.

“(Decker) is such a go getter and makes everyone feel so welcomed,” Jones said. “We’re getting great feedback from everyone and we have very reasonable prices, and people are coming from the hospitals and (other office buildings) that area to eat. We also have to go menus for (local workers) to call in: 303-340-3093.”

If you’re hitting the links at Fitzsimons or work nearby, check out the new and improved fairway fare at TC2.

Cindy Jones, right, has expanded her Tin Cup Bar & Grill ‘empire’ to Fitzsimons Golf Course.

Pat Hamill, dandy Denver developer and founder of Oakwood Homes and owner of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, has acquired the assets of Henry Walker Homes for Oakwood Homes’ continued expansion in the Utah market.

Henry Walker Homes was seeking a new capital partner with a similar organizational culture. Oakwood Homes, Colorado’s largest private homebuilder, purchased Henry Walker Homes for upwards of $75 million. Värde Partners and Mountain Real Estate Capital provided the capital for this transaction. Oakwood Homes and Henry Walker Homes began discussions in September 2013 and completed the transaction on April 23 this year.

Henry Walker Homes currently operates in Northern Colorado and Northern and Southern Utah. Oakwood Homes operates in the Colorado Front Range, including the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs; Omaha, Neb.; and northern Utah. This acquisition will mark the expansion of Oakwood Homes into northern Utah, including Salt Lake City. Henry Walker Homes’ operations in southern Utah and Colorado will resume under a different name.

“When presented with the opportunity to acquire Henry Walker Homes, we were immediately intrigued,” Hamill said. “We were expanding into Salt Lake City, and Henry Walker is already established in Utah with a solid reputation in the area. This opportunity allows us to leverage our strong capital foundation and our efficient building practices towards our vision of being the best homebuilder in America.

“We are pleased to have partnered with Värde Partners and Mountain Real Estate Capital to successfully complete this transaction. They shared our vision in capitalizing on this opportunity that will significantly expand our presence in the growing Salt Lake City metro region.”

The operations in Utah will take place systemically over the next year. John Stubbs, the current President of Henry Walker Homes, will become President of Oakwood’s Utah Division. Mike Stewart will lead the integration team. Over the next year, Jason Chisholm will be Vice President of Operations, and James Doolin will be Vice President of Land Acquisition. Stubbs will partner with the integration team to ensure that the process and systems are successfully integrated over the next year.

“The talent of the Utah team is unmatched,” Stubbs said.  “The team’s total experience in the Utah market spans decades, and Utah homebuyers can trust they will be buying top-quality homes from a company that is dedicated to the growth of the community.”

Oakwood Homes employs 151 people, and Henry Walker Homes has 78 employees.  The majority of associates are expected to remain in their current roles.

John Stubbs will become president of Oakwood’s Utah division. (Oakwood Homes photo)