Elaborate chocolate rabbits, fish and bells fill French store windows to mark the end of Lent, a time of fasting and repentance for Christians.Pastry chef Serge Liebowitch will bring a touch of this tradition to Easter brunch this Sunday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.On display will be several of the chef’s amazing chocolate creations, including a giant white chocolate chicken, and large white chocolate eggs painted with romantic scenes.He has worked at the hotel for more than 30 years, but is originally from a small village in the French alps called Voiron, near Grenoble.The Royal Gazette recently visited Mr Liebowitch at the hotel for an advance peek (and taste) of his work. The Easter eggs were kept in a padlocked fridge to keep them from being ruined by temperature fluctuations before Sunday.Two of his chocolate egg creations had detailed paintings on them. One was of a tree with delicate butterflies on it, and the other had two little children holding hands.“This year my painted chocolate eggs were inspired by little love notes I used to send my wife Pamela, before we were married,” he said. “I am calling one of the eggs ‘Ma Cheri’ (my love) in her honour.”It is an apt name, as the eggs are definitely a labour of love. He estimated it had taken him about two months to complete them.“I haven’t done it for a couple of years as it takes a lot of time,” said Mr Liebowitch. “If someone in the kitchen is on vacation around Easter, I just don’t have time to do it. We have to make the chocolate, and the fondant, and then let it set. It takes the fondant about two to three weeks to set. It has to be very hard so you can paint on it. Otherwise it just absorbs the colour.”He admitted there was a lot that could, and often did, go wrong when making chocolate.“The chocolate has to be very hard,” he said. “You have to melt it first at 50C (122F). When it is melted you have to go down to 26C or 28C (83F). Then you bring it up to 32C (89F) to crystallise the chocolate inside. If it is too hot, it will melt when you bring it out of the fridge. If it is too cold, it will be hard, but the dark chocolate won’t be shiny, but blurry.”He doesn’t paint on the chocolate itself but on the fondant he puts on the egg. It takes him about a week to paint a design on an egg. It might take longer if something goes wrong during the painting process and he has to start again.“It takes me a while because I am not a natural artist,” he said.The process is worth it to him however, when he sees the reaction of visitors to the hotel.“The children love it,” he said. “They all want to eat it. It is just to look at though.”Mr Liebowitch started learning the process as a 14-year-old apprentice in a pastry shop in his village in the French Alps.“Back then we didn’t go to school to study pastry making; we did apprenticeships,” he said. “The first year you just clean the floors and do menial work. The next year you start learning. I was there for three years. After being an apprentice I went to work just down the road in a much bigger pastry shop called Bonnat Patisserie, Chocolaterie and Confiserie. It was well known all over the world for their chocolates, and very popular with the Swiss and Germans, who stopped at the Salon De The, on their way to the French Riviera or Spain. Buses loaded with tourists used to stop there.”He fell in love with the job and learned all the different aspects of creating wonderful cakes, pastries and making chocolate from start to finish.“I remember we were doing more than one ton of chocolate in a day,” he said. “I have lots of fond memories of that place. I still go and see them every time I go to visit France.”He moved to Bermuda to work at the Hamilton Princess in 1971. He didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived.“I always enjoyed the work here,” he said. “I can express myself as creatively as I wish. I am working with a team of six to eight pastry chefs. When I first came I had a contract for two years, then had plans to carry on and see more of the world. Needless to say, well here I am, 36 years later. I could not find somewhere else better and nicer then Bermuda. I got married here to Pamela, who is from Yorkshire, and we have a wonderful daughter, Bonnie.”For information about the Easter brunch at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess call 298-5720 or 298-5722.