Owning a chocolate fountain is fun as long as the fountain is overflowing with chocolate and people are having a gala time dipping into it. After the last guest has departed and you are with your chocolate fountain all alone, there is nothing more annoying than having to clean things up. But then you are left with no valid option, than to clean up the mess, as well as the fountain as soon as you possibly can. These simple steps will help you clean and maintain your chocolate fountain in the best possible condition.

How to Clean a Chocolate Fountain

Dealing with liquid chocolate is indeed a messy job; forget liquid chocolate, even regular chocolate can be a messy affair. Cleaning up after a party doesn’t seem to offer an interesting prospective; yet you can’t leave it either, for you might wake up to unwanted guests (pests) the next day. It’s best to clean up while the chocolate is still in the liquid form.

Process of Cleaning
Look to your left for the things used to do the cleaning, and once you have everything in hand, you can begin cleaning the chocolate fountain.

Step 1: Begin by draining out all the excess chocolate from the fountain. You can either store the chocolate in a container or dispose off the remainder. Do not run the chocolate fudge down the drain as it may result in clogging of the drain pipe. If you find crumbs and bits of fruits, it is advisable to dispose off the chocolate as it would be unfit for consumption. If you find a few hardened lumps of chocolate, it is advisable to run the fountain for some time, till it melts or you can try your hair dryer to heat things up faster. Either way, ensure all the liquid chocolate is out of the fountain.

Step 2: Once you have got rid of all the excess chocolate, fill the basin with a jug full of warm water and run the fountain for a few minutes. This will ensure the removal of all the chocolate residue. Drain the water from the basin and dismantle the fountain. Your fountain will disassemble into four parts: auger tube, auger, bowl tiers, and the basin/ base. All the parts of the fountain except the basin, are dishwasher-friendly and can be stacked into it for a quick wash. You can do it manually as well, if you have time and energy that is.

Step 3: Using a sponge and some warm soapy solution, get to washing the basin. Take precaution while washing though, as any water percolating to the machine area could lead to a possible short circuit, thus hampering the working of the fountain. Be sure to check for any residue in and around the basin area, and if needed, wipe again with a wet sponge. Allow it to dry completely before you stack it away. It is advisable to leave the basin with some warm water to get rid of all stickiness, before you get to actually washing it.

Step 4: Check the auger tube once it is out of the dishwasher for any residue; if you still find some, soak it in some warm soapy solution for a few hours and rinse off, under running water. Once you are done with the washing, dry and pack it off in a dry and ventilated place. Keep away from moisture as it can damage the fountain.

Time Factor
Many of you must be wondering if this will take you a long time to complete, isn’t it? Trust me, the entire process of washing will hardly take you a couple of minutes. Ensure that the water you use is not just warm but hot; hot water will work faster and leave you with lesser tension as it removes all possible grime and residue in minutes. As mentioned earlier, you can fill the basin with warm water and run it for a few minutes while you get the other stuff cleared up.

Being a chocolate lover, I simply can’t think of wasting precious chocolate. Instead of throwing out the chocolate, store the chocolate in jars and make a variety of dishes your kids will thank you for. Try out the chocolate sandwich or the chocolate toast for breakfast. You can also fill your ice trays with the chocolate and have chocolate cubes. Besides, you can even try out a chocolate milkshake. Only remember to use it as soon as possible and before that, do remove all the fruit bits that might have dropped into the fountain during the party. By the way, do not forget to clean it even though you love chocolate and find it hard to part with it. Cleaning and maintaining the hygiene of your chocolate fountain will ensure the smooth running and optimum use of your chocolate fountain.

Everyone loves comfort food, especially in the cold and snowy months of winter. When it gets colder outside, we all crave something that will stick to our bones and keep us warm. When we think of comfort food, we often think of recipes that are expensive and difficult to make, which can lead us to want to order pizza every night, just for something gooey and warm. Next time you think you might want to hit the speed-dial for the pizza delivery guy, however, try these great recipes that will stick to your bones and that the whole family will love.

Alfredo Sauce with Bowtie Pasta and Veggies

Alfredo sauce is surprisingly easy to make, and won’t drain your wallet, either. Start by boiling water and making your favorite pasta according to the instructions. Bowtie pasta is great with this sauce because it holds the sauce well, and it’s bite-sized for the kids to eat easily, but you can use whatever pasta you want. While that is going, melt half of a stick of butter over medium heat, then add one cup of heavy cream. Simmer it together for a few minutes, and then add a cup and half of parmesan cheese and garlic to taste. Whisk it together, and then add some dried parsley to taste. Spoon it over the pasta and add whatever veggies you have available.

Baked Mac and Cheese “Cupcakes”

Baked mac and cheese is always a winter favorite. It fills you up and tastes really, really good. To make baked mac and cheese a little more kid friendly (and portion friendly!) just take your favorite recipe and, instead of baking it in a casserole dish, bake it in muffin tins. You can even go a step further and add a crust by crushing your favorite, cheesy crackers and mixing them with butter and cheddar cheese. Press the crust into the muffin tins, bake it for five minutes to get it crispy, then prepare your baked mac and cheese and spoon it on top of the crusts. Then, bake the mac and cheese and enjoy.

Beer Chicken

Beer chicken is delicious, and non-alcoholic, believe it or not. The alcohol cooks off while the chicken is cooking, and what’s left just serves to make the chicken really moist and tender. Take four chicken breasts, bones removed and skin on. Coat them in flour and brown them in a pan with a little olive oil. Then, put the pieces of chicken in the slow cooker and add half a cup of beer in it. Cook it on high for about three or four hours and, voila, you have delicious chicken. Serve it with asparagus or broccoli and wild rice for a true winter meal.

Ravioli Casserole

Ravioli casserole is truly like the lazy man’s lasagna. If you’ve ever tried to make lasagna before, you know it is very difficult and time-consuming. By using ravioli instead of layering cheese, meat, and noodles, you can take the prep time down to about half. Use whatever kind of ravioli you choose, and whatever kind of sauce you choose, as well as whatever kind of cheese goes with your ravioli. Make the ravioli according to the instructions on the package. Then, make your sauce. Spoon one-third of the sauce on the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch pan, then layer half of the ravioli on top of the sauce. Follow this with half of the remaining sauce and top that with cheese. Then, layer the remaining ravioli, sauce, and cheese – in that order – on the top. Bake it in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the cheese on top is bubbly and golden brown.

The New York Times teamed up with Facebook on an interactive application that allows movie buffs to vote on this year’s Academy Awards and share their choices with their friends.

The Oscar Ballot App will be featured on the Celebs on Facebook page, and it is already live on NYTimes.com.

Users can select winners for each category, share them with friends, and view and comment on friends’ picks.

Times reporters and other celebrities will also share their Oscar predictions via the app.

And Sunday, February 26, the day of the event, NYTimes.com will feature an Oscars dashboard, which will include a red-carpet fashion slide show, commentary from The Carpetbagger blog, dynamically updated ballot results, and live video featuring Film Critic A.O. Scott and Media Reporter David Carr live from The Paley Center in New York.

The New York Times Associate Managing Editor Jim Schachter said:

The Academy Awards is a truly social event, and teaming up with Facebook is a natural fit for the Times ballot. Our technology lets you see which films and actors your friends think will win. And on Oscar night, you’ll be able to see in real-time how your choices stack up against your friends’ and various celebrities’ picks.

Facebook Director of Platform Partnerships Justin Osofsky added:

The Academy Awards has always been a social experience for film aficionados all over the world. This collaboration makes it easy and fun to share your favorite films, actors, and actresses with friends and to discover their movie picks.

Readers: Will you and your friends exchange and compare your Oscars picks?

Tensions surrounding Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear capability have continued to rise in recent days. In addition to today’s announcement by the EU that it would ban its nations from importing Iranian oil, a U.S. aircraft carrier accompanied by warships from Britain and France passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. In spite of recent threats by Iran, the country seemed to acquiesce to the USS Abraham Lincoln entering the Persian Gulf, referring to U.S. Naval exercises in the area as “normal”.

And, it’s also very important to note that the EU ban on Iranian oil does not really take effect until after July 1. Any contracts to purchase Iranian oil through that time will be honored, although it is unclear whether Tehran will continue to supply oil during that time frame. Several Iranian officials have suggested that the Islamic Republic immediately cease shipments of oil to EU nations, which would have a tremendous impact on the fragile economies of struggling EU nations like Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Iran has recently signaled that it is considering having direct talks with Western powers about its nuclear ambitions, but it is unclear if any substantive progress has been made through diplomatic channels. Israeli leaders have expressed concern that Iran may never bow to diplomatic or economic pressure and that proactive military strikes may be the only true deterrent.

With the instability of the global economy, it is unclear exactly how much leverage either side has in the current stare down. If a military conflict ultimately develops, it is unclear exactly how far U.S. forces would take their mission.

‘Cannibalism’ is defined as the act of any animal consuming members of its own type or kind, including the consumption of mates. The definition is good enough to make one feel squeamish. Though rampant in many animal species, it is the intrigue of cannibalism that arouses a lot of curiosity among us. This article sheds some light on the mystery that is ‘cannibalism’.

Cannibalistic Animal Behavior
When we talk about something that defies the limits of decadence, humans are bound to come into the picture. The word ‘cannibalism’ finds its origins in Spanish. The Carib people, a West Indian tribe once infamous for their practice of cannibalism, were called Canbales by the Spaniards, thus establishing a human connect. Thankfully, sanity prevailed and cannibalism is now considered as a criminal activity, barring a few South Pacific islands.

Animals, on the other hand, have a completely different perspective towards cannibalism. We often think of food shortage as the main reason behind it, but we couldn’t be more wrong. Several species indulging in cannibalism do it with a specific purpose in mind. For instance, felines do it to garner female attention, whereas golden eagles do it for reasons of personal survival. All reasons apart, there are about 1500 species indulging in some type of cannibalism.

Praying Mantis	Redback Spider	Great White Shark	African Lion	Polar Bear

The slightest mention of cannibalism manages to elicit outraged reactions every single time. However, it is not against the natural scheme of things, in cases where animals are involved, mind you. Whatever the cause, cannibalism among animals is here to stay for a long, long time to come.

Tomatillos or jamberry, whose binomial name is Physalis philadelphica, is a key ingredient in Latin American sauces and Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are available year-round in most supermarkets. However, the main season is May through October. Used for a variety of salsa and sauces, the tomatillos, unlike tomatoes have a distinct aroma like lemon grass and a tangy tart taste. Known to be a rich source of vitamin A and C, and those of you who are calorie conscious, it’s good to know that they are relatively low on calories too. Not dwelling more on the detailed description of the fruits, let’s move on to how to store them.

Storing Tomatillos

It’s a known fact that storing and preserving fresh food and vegetables gives them a longer shelf-life. I bet there isn’t anyone who hasn’t heard of storing things for a rainy day. Whatever be the reason, storing food especially when it is purchased in bulk is a norm followed diligently. Here are a few ways to store tomatillos.

Storing the Plant
I might be sounding crazy but hey, if you grow your own tomatillos, then this might sound an easy option for you. You need not pluck the fruits from the plant, all you have to do is uproot the plant itself and hang it upside down in a cool and dark room. Keep away from moisture though or you might end up spoiling the fruit. All said and done, you can remove and use the fruits as and when required.

String Them Up
This may be a time-consuming task but well worth the effort; besides, you can always get your kids to do this stuff, if you have your hands full of chores. As you know, these fruits look like little lanterns with their husks and stocks still on, all that you need to do is, tie them up together and hang them in your kitchen. It will give a decorative look to your kitchen as well as make it relatively easier to use.

Use Wicker Baskets
Ever observed how your Gran used to store vegetables like onions and garlic in wicker baskets? Your Gran certainly knew how to store things and keep them ventilated. Purchase a wicker basket that can be hung in a corner and place the berries with their husks still on, in the baskets. By doing this, your tomatillos will last for about 2 months and you’re only needed to stretch out your hand into the basket.

Stuff them in the Crisper
Ain’t it nice to simply stuff things into the refrigerator and simply let it do the preserving? Your only task is to peel the tomatillos under running water to get rid of the sticky residue, dry and place them in a paper bag or a bowl lined with paper towel, and into the crisper section. This way, the tomatillos will last for a minimum period of two weeks to about a month, that is, if stored when they are still raw.

How about Freezing?
The best possible way to store food for a rainy day is to freeze it, and why not do it for the benefits of locking in vitamins as well as for that of a time-saving measure. Before stacking into the freezer though, ensure you wash and dry them, and place them on a flat tray or better still, in a cookie/muffin sheet. Once frozen, remove from the sheets and simply throw into a zip lock pouch for future use. You can store them for almost a year like that.

Blend and Store
One swirl in the food processor and you are done; your purée is ready to be stored in a jar in the refrigerator. Only remember to throw in some spices and salt to make it last for a longer time. Use as and when required as a sauce to give your dishes that extra zing. You can also fill your ice tray with the purée and once frozen, store them in pouches and use them to prepare an authentic Mexican salsa.

Why not Canned Tomatillos?
Although cooking tomatillos may result in a slight loss of flavor, you can pressure cook the tomatillos and preserve them for future use. For those with an insatiable appetite, you can also prepare jams and marmalade with tomatillos and stack them away in the fridge. And for those of you, who enjoy a late night snack, all you’ve got to do is, head to your refrigerator and help yourself to a serving of tortilla with a generous serving of tomatillo marmalade. Now that’s what I call bliss!

What if you are expecting guests and have planned to prepare Mexican cuisine but you suddenly find that the stored tomatillos have turned foul despite the efforts to store them? First and foremost, stop fretting, as you can use substitutes for tomatillos and prepare your dish. Besides, it is always good to stack and preserve food, like in the ant and the grasshopper story where, the ant wisely saves for a cold day.

Sitting and listening to all of this, I wish Steve Jobs was here. I was with him in June this past year, and we were talking about some of the benchmarks, and some of the things that we were trying to do together. He should be here. He probably is [gesturing up and around]. This was his vision, this was his idea, and it all had to do with the iPad.

Jobs’ interest in textbooks is of course now well-known, with Jobs himself being quoted in Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography as wanting to revolutionize the textbook industry and as having had conversations with publishers such as Pearson about the possibilities.

Part of Peters’ 2008 iContest presentation on digital textbooks

One other interesting tidbit on the history of digital textbooks at Apple was shared yesterday by a former Apple intern. As related to The Wirecutter, former intern Joseph Peters proposed the idea of digital textbooks back in 2008 as part of an “iContest” in which Apple interns gathered to pitch ideas to mid-level executives for feedback. The textbook ideas suggested by Peters and his group were well-received by Apple’s judges, with the team being awarded a free MacBook Air and a meeting with higher-level management to discuss the ideas.

Anyway, we presented and answered the Q&A pretty flawlessly. I mean they said they really liked it and every other presentation received mostly sarcastic remarks.

I remember answering a handful of questions and getting the impression that the exec’s were totally on board. It was a pretty awesome feeling. [...]

At the end, they announced that we won, they gave us all a MacBook Air and it was great (for interns anyway). I was more excited about the opportunity to talk to more people about the idea. They scheduled a meeting with John Couch, head of Education a few days later. We met John and a few the people on his team in a small board room and we just gave the same pitch as before.

Peters does not suggest that his group’s idea was the genesis of Apple’s textbook plans, but it does provide interesting insight into a bit of the intern experience at Apple and reveals that Apple was indeed interested in the textbook idea as far back as 2008, more than a year before the debut of the iPad.

Apple Inc. has already transformed the music, mobile phone and personal computing industries, and now the tech giant says its next chapter will be about reinventing textbooks.

In New York on Thursday, at the company’s first product launch event since the death of Steve Jobs in October, Apple announced a trio of new or updated products — the iBooks 2, iBooks Author and iTunes U applications — that it said would uproot the traditional learning experience.

With the new iBooks 2 app, students can download interactive textbooks to their iPads, usually for $ 14.99 or less, eliminating the need for a bulging backpack laden with out-of-date, hundred-dollar textbooks. IBooks Author enables publishers and writers to create their own books using Mac computers and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore. And students can use the iTunes U app to receive course curricula, read textbooks, view presentations and lectures, and get assignment lists from their teachers through their mobile devices.

The apps are available free of charge in Apple app stores.

“It’s a game changer,” said John Bailey, former director of educational technology at the U.S. Department of Education, who said Apple was smart to tap into students’ preference for and familiarity with technology. “This is for education and publishing what iTunes and the iPod was for music.”

The aggressive foray into the education industry could elevate Apple’s popular iPad tablet into a must-have device for students, and it cranks up the competition between the company and Amazon.com Inc. The online retailing giant is a leader in the physical book-selling market and recently released its first tablet, the Kindle Fire, which was widely considered the iPad’s first real competitor; Apple’s venture into education could be a strategic move to get one step ahead of Amazon before it ramps up its own e-book initiatives.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said 1.5 million iPads are already in use in education institutions and that the tablet was “rapidly being adopted by schools across the U.S. and around the world.” More than 20,000 educational apps are available in the company’s iOS App Store.

The announcement also brought to fruition Jobs’ longtime dream of revolutionizing the publishing space, a goal he shared with biographer Walter Isaacson in his book “Steve Jobs.”

“Jobs had his sights set on textbooks as the next business he wanted to transform,” Isaacson wrote. “He believed it was an $ 8-billion-a-year industry ripe for digital destruction. He was also struck by the fact that many schools, for security reasons, don’t have lockers, so kids have to lug a heavy backpack around.”

“The iPad,” Isaacson quoted the tech visionary as saying, “would solve that.”

The company promised that the titles would be “an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive” by featuring interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos and navigation. Students would be able to highlight portions of the text with their fingers, take notes and instantly transform the sections into digital flashcards, for instance.

“This is really, really different,” said Shaw Wu, senior technology analyst at Sterne Agee. “A standard e-book is basically a regular textbook — it’s not interactive, it’s just in digital form. Now we’re talking about textbooks that’ll interact like a website.”

Apple’s stock, which hit a record intraday high Thursday, slipped slightly to close at $ 427.75.

Apple said it teamed up with three major publishing houses — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson — that together account for 90% of textbook sales to deliver digital textbooks through its iBookstore.

McGraw-Hill initially will focus on offering high school math and science titles, said Vineet Madan, the company’s senior vice president of new ventures and strategic services.

McGraw-Hill already makes its instructional materials available in some type of digital form, including companion websites or additional images for the K-12 market, Madan said. But Apple’s tools and the iPad’s touch screen enabled other kinds of features, such as the ability to manipulate 3-D molecules in virtual space. The titles being offered on the iPad exist in print form but will now include content such as videos, layered images and animations.

“It’s one thing to see a picture of a cell structure; it’s another to see an animation of the layers of the cell coming together,” Madan said. “It’s easier for students to understand that than seeing one very complex image, which is all that is possible in print.”

Pearson said its “first wave” of books for Apple’s iPad comprises about 7,000 pages of content, more than 100 videos and 1,000 “interactive widgets” that include features such as 3-D animation. The publisher is releasing several of its current high school math and science textbooks for the platform, covering topics such as biology, environmental science and algebra.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will release “a number of titles” for the iPad but declined to announce specific titles Thursday. They will most likely be for the middle school and high school markets, said Josef Blumenfeld, senior vice president of corporate affairs.

Blumenfeld said a big challenge will be getting more iPads, which start at $ 499, into the hands of students. Deployment “is expensive and it’s a high hurdle for a lot of districts to overcome right now,” he said.

During its announcement Thursday, which took place at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Apple made no mention of new discounts on iPads for students or schools. But Wu said students who go the iPad route for their textbooks would quickly find it to be cost-effective.

“The initial cost may be high, but the whole ownership cycle is probably cheaper because you just carry that one iPad,” he said. “Doing it this way is actually lowering costs over the longer haul.”

andrea.chang@latimes.com

wawong@tribune.com

Chang reported from Los Angeles and Wong from Chicago.

Times staff writer Nathan Olivarez-Giles contributed to this report.

It was Thanksgiving Day. A cold wet wind howled at a small camping trailer as if it might devour the old trailer at any moment, but the sole human occupant showed little concern. The ambient light of an early morning dawn made its way into the tiny kitchen where Grayson Dickson was concerning himself with the making of a half pot of coffee using a portable propane burner and an old-fashioned drip coffee pot. Grayson had retrieved both the burner and the coffee pot a few months ago at a summer yard sale at the cost of fifty cents each.

“Glad to cut a vet a break,” the plump lady at the yard sale had said as she discounted both items for Grayson.

Most anyone that took a close look at Grayson would guess he was a vet, a Vietnam vet to be specific, based upon his appeared age and from the tattoos on his arms that referenced the Vietnam War, not to mention several bullet scars covering his upper torso and legs.

“Where did you get that cute little dog,” the yard sale lady had asked him, nodding at the tan and white Pomeranian that Grayson held in one hand while sifting through the yard sale items with the other.

“Oh, this is Puff. She was my daughter’s dog,” Grayson replied and took a moment to scratch the top of Puff’s little head.

The yard sale lady let out a little giggle, “Just looks a little bizarre; a big brawny fellow like you with such a petite little dog.”

Grayson smiled, “Yes ma’am. Bizarre.” Grayson thought about that word bizarre and an old faded image of a human head hitting him in the chest, the detached head of his buddy, Duke McCray, being blown off its body by a Vietcong land mine. Now that looked bizarre lady, thought Grayson, especially since the head was still smoking a cigarette as it rolled off his chest. Grayson shook his head and blinked his eyes trying to clear an onslaught of other, even more disturbing images. The lady’s voice came at him again, a welcomed distraction.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what circumstances led to…”

Grayson interrupted, “My daughter is dead ma’am. Died a few months ago from…”, Grayson’s voice trailed off to another set of disturbing images – a beautiful young lady in a casket, well dressed men and women avoiding him, not speaking to him, whispering about him. “He’s crazy” he heard someone say.

The coffee brewing, Grayson hand fed Puff a few bits of left over fish sticks from last night’s supper. “Just you and me this year, Puff, but we’ll have a swell time with our chicken pot pies”. Puff licked the fingers that fed her. She had a good friend in Grayson and Grayson in her.