Christ is risen! (Or soon will be, depending on when you read this). But how should one celebrate this glorious event in food and drink?

Easter once marked the end of a rigorous fast. Eggs and all other dairy products were forbidden during Lent and still are among Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics.) The only problem with this mortification is that nobody told the chickens. While folks fasted, the hens kept laying, and by Eastertide there were plenty of eggs in store. Easter eggs and Paschal breads rich with eggs (one Ukrainian recipe uses eighteen eggs for a single loaf!) were prepared with abandon. Pascha, Eternity Cakes, and Koulitch are just a few of these many delightfully decadent Easter breads.

Some Christian cultures have turned Easter dinner into an allegory of new life in the risen Christ. In Ukraine and other Slavic nations, a main course of ham symbolizes our liberation from the Mosaic law and its kosher restrictions; linked sausages represent Christ breaking the chains of Hell; horseradish evokes the bitter herbs of the old Passover feast (and the bitterness of Christ’s Passion, now sweetened by His resurrection); Easter bread, or Pascha, recalls Christ’s rising from the dead; butter and cheese symbolize spiritual nourishment as from mother’s milk; and salt signifies purification and preservation. And then there is the humble egg, in some respects the supreme symbol of the resurrection, for out of the “hard shell” of the tomb comes the miracle of new life.

All the ingredients are brought to church beforehand, either on Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday morning, and blessed by the priest. In some places, the priest travels from house to house blessing the foods. The feast begins when the father of the family takes a blessed egg, breaks it, and distributes it to all at table. It is a beautiful tradition.

Another age-old favorite, for obvious reasons, is lamb: through His Passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ is the true Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world and averts the angel of death by His slain Blood. There is even a special blessing for Easter lamb in the old Roman Ritual:

O God, who during the deliverance of Thy people from Egypt commanded through Thy servant Moses that a lamb be slain in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and instructed that afterwards the blood of the same lamb be put on the door-posts of the houses: do Thou deign to bless and sanctify this meat, which we Thy servants desire to receive for Thy praise, through the resurrection of the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth unto endless ages. Amen.

Our recipe for Parmesan Herb–Crusted Lamb Chops is a fusion blend, the diverse ingredients of which represent the universality of our Faith and our obligation to use the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands in service to others. And the herbs are a nice tie-in to the bitter herbs of the Jewish Passover, the olive oil to the Garden of Gethsemane (as well as the oils used during our Baptism), and the bread crumbs to the risen Christ present in the Eucharist.

Parmesan Herb–Crusted Lamb Chops

Serves: 4 Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes

The Marinade

2 Tbsps. garlic, minced

2 Tbsps. fresh ginger, grated

1 Tbsp. honey

3 Tbsps. lemon juice

2 Tbsps. olive oil

2 Tbsps. fresh mint leaves, minced

The Herb Crust

2 cups panko or other bread crumbs

1/2 cup parmesan, grated

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

The Lamb

2 frenched racks of lamb

4 Tbsps. olive oil

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 Tbsp. black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine the ingredients for the marinade and allow the rack of lamb to marinate on
   both sides.
3. Combine the ingredients for the herb crust and press the rack of lamb into the
   crusting on both sides.
4. Put rack of lamb on a baking sheet with a baking rack and cook for 20–25 minutes, or
   until the internal temperature reaches 125°F.
5. Use the rest of the marinade to make a sauce by heating it in a saucepan over medium
   heat until it lightly boils.
6. When lamb is cooked, pull the lamb out and tent with foil so that the lamb stays warm
   while resting, about 10 minutes before slicing.
7. Slice into chops and serve with the mint marinade sauce.

Wines

As for what wine to pair with your dinner, it depends on the main course.

For lamb, look for a red wine that is fruity and acidic. Cabernet Sauvignon usually tops the list, but Malbec, Merlot, or any Burgundy are also contenders.

For ham, look for a dry rosé, a white wine with fruity notes (to complement the ham the way pineapple does), a sweet white like a Riesling or Gewürztraminer to balance out the meat’s saltiness, or a bold fruity red like a Zinfandel to balance out the sweetness of the glaze.

For after dinner, treat yourself to our new and revised decadent dessert cocktail:

Easter Bunny

1 oz. dark crème de cacao

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. Irish cream liqueur

1 oz. heavy cream (optional)

chocolate syrup

Pour crème de cacao, vodka, Irish cream liqueur, and cream into a shaker filled with ice and shake forty times (the cream makes the drink less sweet and more balanced). Drizzle chocolate syrup into a cocktail glass, and strain the shaker into the glass.

Food for Thought

Make Easter a type of a “new year” by making an informed resolution to live joyfully, even in times of trial. And then tonight, before you go to bed, practice saying “Alleluia” with a sincere heart.

The preceding is an excerpt from Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righeous Feast by Fr. Leo Patalinghug and Michael Foley (Regnery, 2023)

Holy Saturday is in some respects the ultimate Sabbath or day of rest. We Christians sometimes forget that the Hebrew Sabbath falls on a Saturday and that the Old Testament’s rigorous rules against activity on the Sabbath—such as the command to sit in one’s house and not move from one’s seat (Exodus 16:29)—foreshadow Our Lord’s stillness in the tomb the day after His burial.

But not all Christians could keep still this day. In some places, such as Poland, boys who were fed up with forty days of eating fish would take a dead herring and ritually execute it by hanging it from a tree and then burying it with glee in a mock funeral! In other places, such as Costa Rica, Holy Saturday is a time for bromas, or practical jokes, like stealing your neighbors’ belongings and putting them in the town plaza. The association of Holy Saturday with practical jokes makes sense, since it was during the Paschal Mystery that the biggest joke of all was played on the Enemy, when Jesus Christ allowed the devil to stir up mankind against His innocent life without realizing that it was precisely Christ’s death that would free mankind from the devil’s bondage. Some Church Fathers even described Christ on the cross as the bait on a hook that Satan foolishly took.

In Naples, Italy, casatiello is a special donut-shaped bread filled with lots of pepper, pecorino cheese, and cured meats. It is easily recognizable by the whole eggs that are placed on top and secured by a cross of dough. Neapolitan casatiello is offered to family and friends only from noon on Holy Saturday until lunch on Easter Monday. In the old days (pre-1950s), the Easter Vigil service was held in the morning of Holy Saturday and ended around noon, and when that service ended so did the Lenten fast.

Tuscan scarpaccia does not have as close a tie to Easter as casatiello, but it was developed as a spring specialty by sailors making good use of their gardens. This crispy bread with integrated zucchini is delicious, and preparing it will not detract too much from your Easter preparations.

Scarpaccia

Serves: 4–6 Cooking time: 45 minutes

2–3 zucchini, cut into thin rounds
1–2 medium-sized onions, cut into thin slices
3 Tbsps. olive oil, divided, plus 2 tsps. more for the end of the cooking process
1 tsp. salt, divided

1 tsp. pepper, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄3 cup of corn flour, plus 2 tsps.
2 Tbsps. fresh basil leaves, ripped

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil in a sauté pan on medium-high heat and cook the zucchini and onions until the zucchini is slightly caramelized and onions are translucent.
3. Season with ½ tsp. of the salt and ½ tsp. of the pepper and set aside.
4. To a large bowl, add the all-purpose flour, 1⁄3 cup of the corn flour, 1 cup of water, 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil, the remaining ½ tsp. salt, and the remaining ½ tsp. pepper and mix together until a light batter is formed.
5. Add the sautéed onions and zucchini and mix all together.
6. Prepared a rimmed baking sheet by greasing it with the last Tbsp. of the olive oil.
7. Pour the entire zucchini mixture into the pan and spread it out evenly.
8. Sprinkle with a light coating of corn flour and drizzle 2 tsps. of olive oil over the mixture and ripped basil leaves over the entire dish.
9. Place in the oven for 35–40 minutes, until it’s golden brown and crispy.
10. Garnish with more fresh basil leaves or any other herbs and serve.

Food for Thought

This is a day that requires patience, for after a long Lent and a dolorous Good Friday, it is difficult to wait any longer for Easter Sunday morn or for the Holy Saturday night Vigil. What are you most impatient about in your life and why? As you meditate on the reasons, ask God to help you be patient with Him, others, and yourself.

The preceding is an excerpt from Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righeous Feast by Fr. Leo Patalinghug and Michael Foley (Regnery, 2023)

Good Friday is known as a day of fasting. In contemporary Church discipline, it is one of the only two mandatory days of fasting left on the calendar (Ash Wednesday being the other). In former times, Good Friday was the occasion for far more rigorous observances. The Irish kept what was known as the Black Fast, in which nothing, except perhaps for a little water or plain tea, was consumed until sundown. And in the second century the Church is said to have kept a forty-hour fast that began at the hour when Christ died on the cross (3:00 p.m. Friday) and ended on the hour that He rose from the dead (7:00 a.m. Sunday).

But despite its link to fasting, Good Friday is also associated with several foods. In Greece it is customary to have a dish with vinegar added to it, in honor of the gall our Lord tasted on the cross. In some parts of Germany, one would eat only Spätzle (dumplings) and stewed fruit. In other areas of central Europe, vegetable soup and bread would be eaten at noon and cheese with bread in the evening. At both meals people would eat standing and in silence. The custom, widespread in Catholic countries, of marking every new loaf of bread with the sign of the cross took on a special meaning on Good Friday. In Austria, for instance, Karfreitaglaib, bread with a cross imprinted on it, was eaten on this day.

But the most famous Good Friday bread is the hot cross bun. According to legend, Father Rocliff, the priest in charge of distributing bread to the poor at Saint Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire, decorated buns with a cross in honor of Our Lord’s Passion. The custom endured well into the nineteenth century and spread throughout England, where hot cross buns were sold on the streets, as the nursery rhyme tells us, for “one a penny, two a penny.” Today, hot cross buns are available during all of Lent.

Several pious superstitions grew up around hot cross buns, such as the belief that they would never grow moldy and that antagonists would be reconciled if they shared one. Good Friday hot cross buns were kept throughout the year for their curative properties; if someone “fell ill, a little of the bun was grated into water and given to the sick person to aid his recovery.” Some
folks believed that eating them on Good Friday would protect your home from fire, while others wore them “as charms against disease, lightning, and shipwreck”!

Instead of moldy hot cross buns, try our Fava Bean Hummus with Bitter Herbs.

Fava Bean Hummus with Bitter Herbs

Serves: 4 Cooking time: 15 minutes

2 cups dried fava beans
2 Tbsps. tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsps. olive oil, plus more for the end of the cooking process
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper
2 tsps. lemon juice
4 endives, separated
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, finely minced
1 Tbsp. fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
4 pita breads, toasted with a light drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper

1. Soak fava beans in 3 cups warm water for 20 minutes, until tender.
2. Drain the water and put the beans in a food processor or large pestle, and pulse or grind them until smooth.
3. Add the tahini, garlic, olive oil, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, and lemon juice and pulse or grind in the pestle until all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
4. Pour out the hummus onto a plate, drizzle with more olive oil (approximately 1 more Tbsp.), garnish with fresh parsley and mint, and serve with separated endives leaves and pita bread.

Food for Thought

On Good Friday the faithful venerate the wood of the cross. Although this pious act may be interpreted cynically as worshiping an instrument of death, it is in fact a recognition of how Jesus took what was designed for death and reconfigured it into a sign of hope, no matter the pain or sorrow. Today, consider the crosses in your life, hold them gently in your hands, and pray that God will give you the strength to carry them and even see their value.

The preceding is an excerpt from Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righeous Feast by Fr. Leo Patalinghug and Michael Foley (Regnery, 2023)

One of the holiest days of the year is known by several names. Although in English-speaking countries it is usually known as “Holy Thursday,” its official liturgical title is “Thursday of the Lord’s Supper.” The holy day is also sometimes called “Maundy Thursday” after something that took place during the Last Supper, the washing of the feet. (Mandatum, whence “maundy” is derived, is the opening word of John 13:34 in Latin: Mandatum novum do vobis, or “A new commandment I give you.”) And in some countries, the day is known as “Clean Thursday.” Public penitents were not allowed to bathe during Lent as a part of their penance, but on this day they finally got to hit the showers before they were welcomed back into the Church by the bishop. The idea caught on, and soon everyone was bathing (a rare occurrence!) on Holy Thursday in preparation for Easter.

But the most perplexing name for the feast is “Green Thursday,” in the German, Slavic, and Hungarian languages. Is it a corruption of the German grünen, meaning to mourn, or is it indeed from grün, the German word for green? Is it derived from the custom of eating bitter greens like dandelions in imitation of the bitter herbs of the Jewish Passover? Or did the odd name cause the culinary custom?

Whatever the answer, several cultures have a tradition of eating some greens, or nothing but greens, on this day. In France and New Orleans, for example, it was considered good luck to make a soup from seven different greens on Holy Thursday. Our Godly Green Soup proudly stands in this tradition.

Godly Green Soup

Serves: 4–6 Cooking time: 45 minutes

2 Tbsps. olive oil, plus extra for end of cooking process
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup green cabbage, chopped
1 cup kale leaves, minced
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
2 cups spinach

2 Tbsps. oregano
2 Tbsps. fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 cup of small potatoes, peeled and boiled
4 quarts vegetable broth
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

1. To a large pot over high heat, add 2 Tbsps. of olive oil.
2. When it starts to smoke, add the bell pepper, green cabbage, kale, and spring onions. Sauté until the vegetables begin to soften and are lightly blistered.
3. Add the spinach, oregano, parsley, and garlic, mix together, and cook for 2–3 minutes.
4. Add the potatoes and broth and bring to a simmer.
5. Use an immersion blender to blend all of the ingredients together to a light creamy consistency.
6. Serve with crusty bread and another light drizzle of olive oil on top of the soup.

Food for Thought

This is the night on which Our Lord was betrayed by a kiss (in fact, the kiss of peace used to be omitted on this night because the bitter aftertaste of the “Judas kiss” was too fresh on the minds of the faithful). Think about the people with whom you share a kiss, and pray that you will all be sincere in your affections and never use a sign of love as an act of treachery.

The preceding is an excerpt from Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righeous Feast by Fr. Leo Patalinghug and Michael Foley (Regnery, 2023)

Francken the Younger, Entry into Jerusalem, 17th century

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when throngs of people laid palm branches and even their own clothes on the path before Him and proclaimed “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” It is customary on this day to have palm leaves blessed and to take them home and keep them as a sacramental. In Spain, Palm Sunday was called Pascua Florida because it was the custom to bless flowers as well as palms on this day. Initially the name applied only to Palm Sunday, but over time it was applied to Easter and its Octave as well. Thus when Ponce de Leon first spotted the coast of Florida on March 27, 1513 (Easter Sunday), he had a name for the new land ready at hand.

Today was called Fig Sunday in parts of England because everyone ate figs for the occasion. There is a tradition that Our Lord snacked on these fruits after His entry into Jerusalem, but another reason may be that the day after He entered, He cursed a fig tree for not satiating His hunger, even though it was the wrong season for figs (see Mark 11:12–14).

Jesus is not the only one who may have trouble finding fresh figs during the spring. Even in our own day, when modern agribusiness can provide watermelons in January, fresh figs, which bruise and spoil easy, are a rarity at the grocery store this time of year. Dried figs, on the other hand, are available year-round and may be your best bet for observing this custom. Heck, even
Fig Newtons would work.

As for the main course, we recommend our Hearts of Palm Pasta. Not only is this dish an obvious tie-in to today’s Sunday, but since heart of palm was once one of the most expensive ingredients on the market because of the difficulty of procuring it, it also evokes the kingship of Our Lord. Heart of palm has a light vegetal quality, with a crunchy and yet soft exterior, and tastes like a combination of white asparagus, young coconut, and celery. And you can think of the bow tie–shaped farfalle pasta as tiny little palm leaves spread out in front of the King.

Hearts of Palm Pasta

Serves:4-6 Cooking Time: 30 minutes

1 lbs. farfalle pasta
2 Tbsps. olive oil
2 cups hearts of palm, cut into 1⁄8-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup white wine

1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsps. fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ cup parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta al dente: according to package directions, but subtract 2 minutes from the cooking time. Reserve ½ cup of the starchy water, then drain the rest.
2. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil.
3. Add the hearts of palm and garlic and cook until fragrant.
4. Add the white wine and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the heavy cream, parsley, salt, and pepper, and bring the ingredients to a simmer.
6. Add the pasta to the pan and toss, adding some of the starchy water, a little at a time, until the desired consistency, which should be just creamy enough to coat the pasta.
7. Add the parmesan cheese and mix together before serving.

Food for Thought

Palm Sunday is in a sense the original feast of Christ the King. Today, let us renew our loyalty to Our Sovereign Lord and pray that we not end up like the fickle crowd in Jerusalem, praising Jesus one day and condemning Him the next.

The preceding is an excerpt from Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righeous Feast by Fr. Leo Patalinghug and Michael Foley (Regnery, 2023)

Come join us on a pilgrimage cruise! From April 22 to May 3, 2023, Alexandra and I will be teaming up with EWTN master chef Fr. Leo Patalinghug for a pilgrimage on the Douro River through Portugal and Spain on a best-in-class river boat. We will be visiting Lisbon, Santarem, FATIMA, Averio, Porto, Braga Bom Jesus, Peso De Regua, Salamanca, Ferradosa, Pinhao, and Regua, with an optional extension to the famous Santiago de Compostela. There will be daily Mass, daily tours, and daily drinks (grin).

And the first five people who sign up will receive a free Drinking with the Saints apron.

https://cruisesbyselect.com/product/drinking-and-dining-with-the-saint-on-a-douro-river-cruise-april-22-may-3-2023-23rs04ptaf/

Need some list-minute gift ideas for Christmas? Behold!

https://shepherd.com/best-books/culture-and-booze

With a contentious Election Day upon us and predictions of a protracted contest over the votes running wild, it is time to turn to the shelter of prayer–and the liquor cabinet. Here are three liquid suggestions for how to survive the presidential election.

1. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

The patron saint of the USA is Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. We pray that the Immaculate Conception may help our country have an immaculate (unstained) election. 
Honor Our unspotted Lady with perhaps the finest cocktail ever made:

White Lady

1 egg white

2 tsp. powdered sugar

1 oz. gin

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. Cointreau

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 dash lemon bitters (optional)

1 lemon twist

Beat the egg white and powdered sugar until firm but not stiff (a frother or hand-held mixer speeds up the process). Pour the egg mixture and all other liquid ingredients except lemon bitters into a shaker with ice and shake forty times. Strain into a cocktail glass and add lemon bitters and twist.

2. St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More, the patron saint of statesmen, knew a thing or two about political roller coasters. Honor the Man for All Seasons with one of our original cocktails, a Drink for All Seasons:

A Drink for All Seasons

1½ oz. cognac

½ oz. yellow chartreuse

½ oz. Cointreau

½ oz. lemon juice

3 angostura bitters

Pour ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake forty times. Strain into a cocktail glass.

3. St. Jude

And when all else fails, there is always St. Jude, the patron saint of desperate or hopeless causes. Need we say more? Oh yes, the drink name and recipe.

Desperado

2 oz. Patrón Añejo tequila

¾ oz. sweet vermouth

½ oz. amontillado sherry

¼ oz. Cynar (artichoke liqueur)

1 orange twist for garnish

Pour liquid ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir forty times. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with orange.

Just one request: if you are counting ballots, please enjoy these drinks after you are done.

On Saturday, October 31, 2020, Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, will be beatified. To celebrate this event, I am pleased to announce the creation of a cocktail in Blessed Michael’s honor.

The Michael J

¾ oz Brady’s Irish Cream

½ oz Litchfield Straight Bourbon

1 oz Pallini Limoncello

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake forty times. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice and garnish with a lemon twist and a small spoon, preferably brass.

This ultra smooth and almost frothy cocktail has three ingredients, one for Blessed Michael’s ancestral home, one for his adopted home, and one for his supernatural home.

Brady’s Irish Cream is from County Cavan, Ireland, where both of Michael’s parents were born. The distiller boasts of being “one of the oldest cream liqueur plants in the world,” so perhaps his mom and dad enjoyed a glass during their time in the old country. If you can’t find a bottle of Brady’s at your neighborhood liquor store, Blessed Michael won’t mind if you substitute Bailey’s or some other brand.

Blessed Michael was born in Waterbury, CT, served as a priest in New Haven, and died in Thomaston. Thomaston is located in Litchfield County, home of Litchfield Distillery: their award-winning Straight Bourbon Whiskey is 92 proof, so if you need to find a substitute, be sure to use something similarly strong. Jim Beam Devil’s Cut bourbon, for example, is 90 proof and would be an appropriate way to make Old Scratch pay his respects to the new Blessed.

And Blessed Michael’s supernatural home, of course, is Heaven, but it is also his membership in the Catholic Church to which he remained loyal and true in face of persistent anti-Catholic prejudice. We can honor Michael’s fidelity to the Church of Rome with Pallini limoncello, made by a family-owned business from the Eternal City.

Oh. And the spoon betokens Father Michael’s boyhood job making spoons in a brass mill.

If sheltering in place is driving you crazy, try a cocktail just as insane. I invented the offbeat Holed Up three years ago for Regnery Publishing’s 70th anniversary in honor of their patron saint, Simeon of Trier. As it turns out, Simeon was a hermit who lived in a gate tower in Trier, Germany called the Porta Nigra, and the Porta Nigra is Regnery’s colophon (see illustration). Simeon’s feast day (in Trier, at least) is June 1, so it is time to roll out this drink again but with an added, COVID-19 meaning in mind.

Holed Up
2 oz. Blüfeld Riesling wine
1 oz. elderflower liqueur (or less)
Amarena cherry
1½ oz. club soda
1 dash angostura bitters
Build all ingredients into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Stir gently for a Russell Kirk version, violently for an Ann Coulter version.

The ingredients of the Holed Up were meant to honor aspects of Regnery’s history and mission as well as St. Simeon’s biography. The Amarena cherry is in memory of St. Simeon’s homeland of Italy. Riesling wine honors the famous Mosel region of Germany, where Wilhelm Regnery (founder Henry Regnery’s grandfather) worked as a winemaker and where St. Simeon spent his final years, while Blüfeld honors the color blue, the original color of conservatism before some nincompoop at NBC screwed things up with his “red” and “blue” states. Elderflower liqueur pays tribute to the wisdom of the elders which St. Simeon and Regnery have sought to conserve. And bitters reflect the bitter truth to which St. Simeon and Regnery are committed in season and out.

And the toast?

“In gratitude to Regnery for publishing The Politically Incorrect Guide to Christianity, Drinking with the Saints, Drinking with Saint Nick, and Drinking with Your Patron Saints: Through the intercession of St. Simeon of Trier, who spent the last seven years of his life in a small cell, may we soon be free of the pandemic COVID-19 and all its confinements, and may Regnery and its readers [and that includes you!] always keep their heads holed up high.”