Page 21 - Indulge April/May 2016

e for this Valley Girl is
very sweet.
Literally.
Our Valley Girl is a Bethlehem
native, who instead of getting down
on herself after her job moved
overseas, chose instead to follow her try and my friend Dave McCormack
heart and open a chocolate shop.
Arlene Brockel initially wanted
to be a baker. But when she took a
chocolate class, she traded her cake
pans for candy molds.
After trials, errors, a lot of
reading and work, Chocolate Lab
opened in 2002.
When she’s not creating
confections in the Lab, Arlene likes
to spend time outside walking with
her boyfriend, Al Clegg, and her two
pitbulls, Barry White and Dyna-
glodean. Helping animals in distress
is near and dear to her — Chocolate
Lab teams up with a veterinary clinic and got it right! ... I started picking
for Paws for the Holidays, which
donates a portion of proceeds to
animal shelters.
Arlene took time out of her busy
schedule to talk with us.
Q: What made you decide to
become a chocolatier?
A: I decided to take classes
in culinary arts at Northampton
Community College. I originally
wanted to be a baker. I had made
baked goods for years and sold them
every holiday at (B. Braun Medical
Inc. where she worked) and made a
lot of extra money and loved it. Once
I had the one-week chocolate class,
my focus changed. I fell in love with
chocolate. Piping filigree shapes on
stencils for our plated desserts for
the Hampton Winds restaurant at
the college was so much fun. I was
hooked! I knew what I wanted to
do with my life — make chocolate.
This is when I knew I wanted to be
a chocolatier. It was soothing and
beautiful and made me smile. I made
some candy for friends and family to
Arlene Brockel
at work in her
‘lab’ making
her chocolate
creations.
tried my candy and said, ‘this stuff
is amazing! Share your gift with the
world. I will help you every step of the career path?
way.’ And he did!
Q: How did you go about following
your dream?
A: I bought every candy-making
book I could find and started teaching
myself how to make chocolate. I threw
a lot of candy out before I got the
tempering down pat. Everything looked
beautiful until the next day and it was
all spotty and discolored. I sat on the
floor and cried. Then I started over
out the items I wanted to sell. I made
lots of samples of my candy and
shared them with family and friends —
picking out everyone’s favorites. We
now have about 95 different types of
candy, but I did not start out with that had my first job. Went to Farr’s for
many at first. … As far as following
my dream, I had the wheels in motion
once I knew I was close to losing my
job. … on Sept. 20, 2002 Chocolate
Lab opened. I followed my heart and
no one could stop me. I just stayed
focused and concentrated on my
business and nothing else. … We will
celebrate 14 years this September.
Q: What advice would you give
someone looking to follow the same
A: To anyone looking to do this or
start up a business, follow your heart
and your gut feeling. You will never
go wrong. Always be happy with your
decision no matter what. If something
feels wrong don’t do it. Also try working
for a business that you would be
interested in opening yourself and see
if you like it.
Q: How have you seen Bethlehem’s
Main Street change over the years?
A: I have seen many changes
downtown. All of the stores I
frequented as a kid are now gone.
Orr’s department store is where I
my school shoes as a kid. And to
the Nile movie theater as well. The
arcade where Cilantro is now was
one of my favorite hangouts as a
kid in middle school. Bethlehem is
a great place to grow up! Used to
put pennies on the railroad tracks
as a kid when I would visit my
grandparents on Third Street. I loved
to see flames shooting out of the big
stacks at Bethlehem Steel across
from my grandparents’ house.