I am craving the Midnight Moon and a Drunken Goat with a Dirty Face and I'll drive 210 miles to satisfy this craving. Last winter I drove 889 miles to eat a snail and this summer I plan on driving 940 miles to eat at La Fleur, Hubert Keller's famously imaginative French restaurant. After that, my wife and I will fly to Boston to see if New England clam chowder is really better than West Coast clam chowder. I doubt it but I have to know.

Some desire the fastest car, an expensive purse, designer shoes or a Swiss watch to express their individual style and creativity while my passion lies in consumption; the consumption of food. As the performance artist creates art for the moment then the art is gone, I desire food to stir my passion. Once consumed, the only thing that remains is the memory and I have some great memories.

I remember, as if it is happening at this very moment, the crackle of salt as Lars Kronmark, my Culinary Institute of American chef-instructor, carefully removes the hard salt casing from the red snapper to reveal the delicately flaky fish inside. I remember how the fish tastes, the texture, the surprise of other classmates commenting how the fish is not salty but tastes like eating a delicious fish while swimming in salty ocean water and Lars laughing at our amazement.

I remember running through the rain in San Francisco with my girlfriend and stumbling into the first restaurant we find, "The Hungry Tiger." We order coffee to warm our bones and clam chowder to warm our souls. I still remember every moment of that meal 31 years later. This is the day I fall in love with my wife. For me, food is more than nourishment - food is who I am.

Why does food create such memories? The reason lies in psychology. We are psychologically wired to remember food that creates positive memories, increasing the chance that we will continue to consume said food. We are also psychologically wired to avoid food that creates poor memories and avoid food associated with bad memories or food that negatively affects our biology.

Diagraming my hypothesis, please participate in this little experiment. Imagine a food you have consumed in the past that was paired with positive memories; a birthday cake, pizza party or grandma's cookies. Close your eyes and let your mind take you where it will. Now do the same with a food that made you sick; a certain fish that you became ill after eating, the tequila you drank too much of on your 21st birthday or the ham sandwich the child next to you barfed up in preschool (my daughter's experience). Close your eyes again and examine the experience.

Before food labels, the FDA and supermarkets, humans hunted and foraged for nourishment. To ensure humans continue to survive, a mechanism had to help foragers know what is edible and what is not. This mechanism in psychology is called association. When one eats something pleasurable or disgusting, a memory or association for the event is created. This memory places the person psychologically back in the place where the food was consumed - as if he or she is reliving the event.

Now let's go back 2,000 years. A child eats a berry and becomes nauseous. As an adult, the same person tastes that same berry, recalls the nausea 30 years prior and knows not to consume the berry. The human survives and is able to continue the human race.

Let's go back to the beginning. Why a Midnight Moon and a Drunken Goat with a Dirty Face? My wife and I spent the last week of March in Leavenworth, Wash. This little Bavarian town in central Washington has an incredible food culture that it seems to be embarrassed by. Hidden in basements and in the back of tourist shops are amazing food vendors selling incredibly handcrafted food. In the basement of 633 Front St. is, "The Olive and Vinegar Cellar." After tasting the 18-year aged balsamic vinegar, I buy two bottles.

At 843 D Front St., all the way in the back of the shop is, "Chocolat." Damian Browne's wife Susie Johnson makes incredible French chocolates by hand. Damian runs the retail portion of the business and offers samples freely enticing the customer to eat, sample and buy.

Down the street at 819 Front St., again in the basement, is one of the best cheese shops I've ever visited. "The Cheesemonger's Shop," has ample samplings by knowledgeable cheese mongers who pair homemade mustards with European and American cheeses. Sheep, cow and goat cheeses are offered. My favorites are Midnight Moon and the Drunken Goat - each has amazing flavor and are delicious with Kozlik's Triple Crunch Canadian mustard which pops in my mouth like pickled caviar.

OK, now for the Dirty Face. Icicle Brewing Company in Leavenworth offers incredible microbrews to perfectly finish your day of shopping and eating. The Dirtyface Amber is a must drink. Staring at the snowcapped mountains and visiting with new friends finishes our day off perfectly. The next morning we pick up two packages of bratwurst and chicken and apple kielbasa from, "Cured," a true Italian market with natural casing sausages and a homemade gelato from "Viadolce Gelato," and head for home. These memories will be repeated.

If you wish to comment or offer suggestions, please email me at [email protected].