bagna cauda

• Going to Joan's for Christmas Eve. Joan is our "rent-a-grandma" who saved us last spring when daycare  imploded.
• Joan also drove Rose 2-3x a week for her sp ed preschool.
• We ended up getting extra speech therapy during those rides.  That's how fabulous Joan is.
• She recently unearthed a special book she had made for Rose to look at during those rides, full of pictures and corresponding vocabulary words. 
• Never intended to help Rose read.
• Just intended to help Rose learn, store, and articulate common words.
• Frankly, about to cry with gratitude for Joan in my life.
• Met Joan through Jill. Met Jill through daycare when Andy was 3. I ADORE Jill and Joan both.
• Jill now counselor at a high school, "recruited" Andy although it's in another district. (Happens to be district in which P teaches, though.)
• I always feel that she gives way more than she takes in our friendship, and probably in life overall.
• Crying about Jill, too.  Because I'm a little thin-skinned that way.
• You should see me during chick flicks.  whoa.
• Wow, so Joan. Joan is such a lovely, dignified, wise, generous and gentle person. Except, I suspect, when pushed between a rock and a hard place. She does not suffer fools.
• So both Joan and Jill have warned that the traditional Italian dish which will be tonight's centerpiece is not for the faint of heart.
• And they don't even KNOW I'm back on the ww (points plus!) wagon!
• Bagna cauda. Directly translated, it seems to mean hot bath.
• As you know, I'm a fan of hot baths.
• This, however, is apparently anchovy gravy, kept hot over a heat source, eaten standing up. You serve yourselves by dipping up some of the gravy with a raw celery stick, then pouring it over your traditional Italian bread.
• The recipes I have found are basically anchovies "melted" in olive oil, with garlic, butter, pepper, etc. 
•  Joan and Jill both allude to cream in their own family recipe.
• I am not faint of heart, and I adore being allowed into family rituals. So I'm just planning ahead, budgeting the day's food allowances....
• Must say, though, not so sure about anchovy gravy.