Cannon Beach Gazette: Stories

It was a dream come true for Lisa Evans: 30 minutes turned loose in a candy shop to gobble chocolate and caramel and anything else chewy and gooey to her heart’s desire.

Plus, she could bring three of her best friends with her.

For the Cannon Beach columnist and motivational speaker, whose childhood nickname was “treat woman” because of her love for sweets, a free dash through Bruce’s Candy Kitchen was an auction item she couldn’t pass up.

So when she heard it announced at the Stormy Weather Arts Auction last fall, she jumped up and down and tugged on the arm of her husband, James Downing. Their bid won.

For the past three years, Bruce’s Candy Kitchen has opened the candy store to benefit charitable causes. This time, the proceeds helped the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce finance the arts festival.

Lisa and James invited two friends from Portland to join them in the candy dash, but the first time they planned it, illness forced them to cancel. Then, Bruce’s shut down for four months to remodel.

Finally, in April, “treat woman” fulfilled her dream – and filled her sack and belly full of candy.

Friends Chris and Dawn Sibilia already knew how to scarf down sweets. Halfway through a 2,200-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail, they followed the tradition established by other hikers of eating a half gallon of ice cream each. They also are “addicted” to M&Ms; they had 24 pounds of them available for their wedding guests and they often grab a handful at night as dessert.

Despite their love for all things candy, however, they work it off. Lisa met Dawn 10 years ago at an all-women’s health club, where Dawn was a personal trainer.

At the Candy Kitchen, co-owner Brian Taylor, who had just stirred up a batch of warm caramel corn, gave them some ground rules:

“You can get anything you want,” said Brian, reminding them to use the pick-up papers when selecting chocolates. “You have 30 minutes to eat anything and to fill one bag, but there cannot be more than one inch of candy sticking out of the bag.”

Brian then set an alarm clock for 30 minutes and told them to start. But as excited as they were, they began methodically.

“You don’t have to run,” Lisa said. “This store isn’t very big.”

Standing behind the candy counter, with bins of chocolates – fudge, rocky road, pralines, caramels, truffles – open for grabbing, Lisa tentatively selected a chocolate and began nibbling. Then James, Chris and Dawn followed. As they taste-tested several pieces, they started to drop some in their bag.

“The chocolate-covered cherries are spot-on,” Lisa said through a thick layer of chocolate. “These are good,” she said reaching for caramels. “Ooh, milk clusters.” Brian looked at the clock. “You only have 27 minutes and 39 seconds left,” he told them.

“Rum cordials! Coffee cordials! They’re going in the bag,” Lisa said.

Meanwhile, James, at the end of the counter, discovered another delicacy.

“Has anyone tried a Milky Way? Turtles, where are the turtles? Ahh, Macadamia nut turtles!” He put one in his mouth and a couple in his bag.

With her initial exploration of the chocolates completed, Dawn felt the need to wander through the store. “I think I need to go out to the outer floor,” She said. “I feel like we’re running out of time already.”

But Lisa, keeping her eye on the clock, shook her head. “No, we’re only 10 minutes in.” While Chris had discovered the truffle mints and Lisa was testing the amaretto chocolates, James found another delicacy.

“Did you try the apricots?” he asked. “The apricots are lovely.” Only 17 minutes left, Brian announced. The bags were nearly full.

“Oh cowtails,” cried Lisa, who, by now, had started exploring the store. She spied the wrapped caramels with soft centers with the odd name. “Have you ever tried these?”

Halfway through the half hour, she looked a little flush. “It’s 15 minutes in, and I’m starting to feel it in my gut….Hey Brian, can I get into the cotton candy?”

She took a handful of cotton candy and wrapped it around her. “Oh, look, my edible scarf.” Brian’s daughter, Lilli, 4, watched as Lisa handed her the bag of candy while she arranged her “scarf.”

Dawn suddenly remembered the caramel corn that she had watched Brian mix earlier. “Can I try it?” she asked Brian, who brought a handful to her.

Brian then offered some expert advice to the candy-gatherers. “You might want to stop holding the bags because the chocolate at the bottom might melt.”

“Oh now, it can’t do that!” replied James.

He asked Brian to describe a “meltaway.” A meltaway, Brian said, is whipped chocolate dipped in chocolate – a mistake that became popular.

“We make truffle mints, and one time we forgot the peppermint,” Brian said. “We decided to call it a ‘meltaway.’”

While meltaways sell well, he said, the Candy Kitchen’s top sellers are seafoam and peanut clusters

Chris started to search for smaller chocolate chips to fill in the spaces between the larger chocolates in the bag.

“I’m going to do the same thing with raisins,” Lisa said. “Toffee, oh, toffee,” she added, filling her bag to the top. “All right, I’m done.”

With six minutes left, she took another look at the candy case. “You guys, we didn’t even put a dent in this.”

As Brian announced the three-minute mark, Chris looked up. “There’s no way I can do another half-hour?” he asked.

With less than two minutes to go, the sugar high finally hit James, who made one last dash at the chocolates.

“Get out of the way, I’m coming through,” he said.

“You’ve got two seconds,” Brian called out.

And, as the clock wound down, the four friends put their hands to their bellies and groaned. A half-hour later at their home, they looked at four dinner plates full of chocolates: black raspberry truffles, Kailua truffles, toffee, cowtails, seafoam, malt balls, amaretto cordials, caramel cashew chews, chocolate-covered apricots, turtles, a caramel-covered apple and a couple of giant lollipops.

In a chocolate haze, they looked at their haul, like kids who have just come home from Halloween.

“We’re thinking about getting a pizza later,” she said.