Trader Girl

I love trading things. As a kid, "Wanna trade?" was my signature expression. I'd trade marbles, jacks, clothes and, especially, sack lunches. Later in life, my husband and I traded houses with a couple in Taos, New Mexico, and had one of the best family vacations of our lives.  This weekend, I'm at it again, trading my great-great grandmother's biscuit brake, pictured here in a previous blog....

for two nights in Des Moines, compliments of the chef/owner of some of the city's top restaurants. In exchange for our antique biscuit machine, the chef (an admitted biscuit addict) will put us up at a downtown hotel and treat us to dinner at two of his hot dining spots: Centro and Django. We've never been to Des Moines, except driving through it to vacation spots in Minnesota, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the city has to offer, especially the East Village, which reminds me of my professional domain, Downtown Lawrence. I get a birthday weekend away with delicious food, my husband gets more precious space in his garage, the chef gets beaten biscuits...everybody's happy.  Is there anything you wanna trade?