When I moved into my apartment in 2008, I got a Rival chocolate fountain (and a poker table) before I even had living / dining room furniture or curtains in my bedroom.  I had to go through the hassle of returning 2 machines that did not work before I finally brought one home that did.  As you can tell from my persistence, I was really set on owning one of these things  🙂  Clearly, the Rival model isn’t of the best quality, but I’ve used mine more times than I can remember, so I still recommend it.  The motor is just now finally starting to die.  It’s perfect for parties of Any occasion and you can dip strawberries, banana slices, pear slices, shortbread cookies, marshmallows, cookies, large pretzels, rice krispies squares (recipe here), etc.  To make the chocolate, I buy bags of Hershey’s chocolate chips from Costco and follow the instructions that came with the machine.  I tried using this as a cheese fountain too but it didn’t work as advertised.

I wanted to thank the people that frequent my blog, so for the night of the 100th post, I invited them over for a few hors d’oeuvres and chocolate fountain.  I made white bean puree crostini, shrimp salad in endive leaves, and mini camembert cheesecakes (savoury with prosciutto and roasted red pepper coulis).  (See these recipes in the Appetizers and Snacks category).  For the chocolate fountain, I served strawberries and banana slices. Other great accompaniments for chocolate fountain or fondue include: homemade rice krispies squares (see recipe here), pizzelles, large marshmallows.

So if you’re reading this, Thank you very much for checking out Cooking with Ali  🙂  Sign up for an email subscription (and follow the confirmation instructions) and you might get an invite for the 200th Post Party!

Picture below:  Note that the motor is dying.  The chocolate used to flow completely solidly like a curtain.