Local & State Wednesday, March 28, 2001

C Shop hoppin' during Easter treat preparation

PHILIP A. DWYER HERALD PHOTOS

WHO'S HUNGRY FOR BUNNIES? Patricia Alesse rotates a bunny to spread the chocolate around Tuesday under the watchful eye of her husband, Patrick, at the C Shop. Their Easter treats (see inset) include a white chocolate bunny (top left), a bunny on a tractor, white chocolate bunny nests and peanut butter-filled eggs.

BIRCH BAY: Bustling Chocolate-bunny business keeps couple busy during off-season.

Kari Thorene Shaw, The Bellingham Herald

BIRCH BAY -- The sign on the door might say "closed for the season," but the C Shop is anything but dormant.

The lights are on, the oven is warm and the chocolate melter is, well, melting. This is the one time of the off-season when owners Patrick and Patricia Alesse fire up the kitchen and make candy. By the time they are done, the little cafe and candy shop will be overrun with 70 varieties of chocolate Easter bunnies, roosters and eggs of all sizes.

With the help of a three-person staff, the Alesses have been turning their summertime candy shop into a hand-molded chocolate bunny factory for 10 weeks in the winter for more than 25 years for selling the candies to 24 stores in Washington state, from Blaine Bouquets to the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory in Snoqualmie.

Last year, they made 4,500 Easter-themed chocolates.

"We got started a little late this year," said Patricia Alesse, chalking it up to new construction in the kitchen. "I haven't relaxed yet."

Easter also is the only time other than summer that the C Shop is open -- the Alesses sell their Easter candies retail on the weekend before Easter and on Easter weekend.

Their goodies range from a 1.5-ounce chocolate egg to a 40-ounce, 18-inch bunny with a jellybean pack.

At first, they made the bunnies with antique metal molds. Patrick Alesse has a love for antiques, which may be noticeable in the way he describes the candy-making equipment and candy molds.

 

Shop details

The C Shop, 4825 Alderson Road, will be open for Easter candy sales from 1 to 6 p.m. on April 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14.

Antiques litter the kitchen, from the 1915 mixer to the 1916 oven.

"There's high tech and low tech," Patrick Alesse said. "We try to be smart tech. There is a lot of wonderful old stuff that's just built to last."

Although they have moved on to use what they call "gang bunnies," or plastic molds that allow making a dozen candies at a time, the pair were loathsome to part with their antique molds. They keep a basket of metal molds for a special "antique mold" line of Easter creations.

These chocolates take longer to make because they have to be made one by one.

"We call this one the 'battered bunny,' " Patrick Alesse said while holding up a metal mold with apparent hammer marks. The bunny in shape the mold, which already was marred when he bought it, has a mashed-in face.

Outside of giving the Alesses a chance to showcase their molds, Easter is a time where they make some once-a-year goodies.

"This is the only time of the year we make truffles," said Patrick Alesse while removing a tray of them from the freezer.

They sell the truffles as "eggs" in chocolate baskets.

"Chocolate, when you bite into it, should snap," Patrick Alesse said. "And when it melts in your mouth, there should be an explosion of flavor."

The pair started making Easter candy to help pay for the C Shop.

"We're still paying," Patrick Alesse said.

The C Shop in the winter looks nothing like the bustling sandwich and ice cream shop it becomes when the weather warms. Molded chocolate rabbits piled on cookie sheets cover the sandwich counter, and the soda freezer has been taken over by chilled truffles.

Instead of tablecloths, the tables are covered with recycled boxes filled with wholesale orders of jellybeans and embellished chocolates. Patricia Alesse decorates most of the bunnies, ducks and baskets herself.

On Tuesday, Blaine resident Kathryn Brehmer trimmed excess candy off molded rabbits and baskets at the counter. She has trimmed and packaged Easter candy for the Alesses for about four years and has been working 40-hour weeks to get the Easter shipments done.

"We're like monks," Patrick Alesse said.

Patrick Alesse said the store gets pretty busy during the Easter season, with some customers making a tradition out of the yellow-labeled candies. But said he's reluctant to expand the production much more.

"We need time to goof off," he said. "We want to keep things comfortable."

Reach Kari Thorene Shaw at kthorene@bellingh.gannett.com or call 715-2290.