25 October

Today is the one and only, official, World Pasta Day. And, no, that's not an internet invention. Today really IS World Pasta Day. And to commemorate it, the great and the good of the pasta-making world will be gathered to enjoy a riveting day based around the theme of "Pasta: the perfect choice for a tasty, healthy and sustainable diet".

Looking for hand-crafted, fresh egg tagliatelle? The perfect ragù recipe? Today is, probably, not for you, because today is all about the dried stuff, made with durum wheat, which Sicilians were eating as early as the twelfth century. Over in these parts, we love good pasta. But we love Italian liquor even more. And so, in the spirit of Italian cuisine we're skipping straight to dessert with a Affogato cocktail.

International Artist Day

'Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life', said Pablo Picasso, who was born this day in 1881. Picasso shares his birthday with International Artist Day, and we can think of nobody better to represent art in so many guises - be it cubism, surrealism, modernism, symbolism and so much more. In fact, it's rumoured that Picasso's first word was 'lapiz' (Spanish for 'pencil')!

Celebrating all forms of art, International Artist Day recognises the significance of art in history and culture all over the world. For thousands of years, art has captured revolutions and rebellions, love and war, the human and the other-worldly. Be it sculpture, painting, photography, music or architecture, art captures the essence of life, distilling a myriad of emotions into a single form.

We like to think that cocktail-making is an art form too. After all, careful thought is given to a cocktail's constituent parts, its flavour profile and presentation and the overall experience of the drinker. So how about an art-inspired cocktail today to celebrate both International Artist Day and the birthday boy who used to pay his restaurant bills with a quick sketch on a napkin? Let's drink like an artist with an Artist's Special Cocktail.

Chaucer Died on this Day

Geoffrey Chaucer was crucial in establishing the legitimacy of vernacular Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.

Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, and most famously known for his Canterbury Tales, on this day in 1400 Chaucer became the first poet to be buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Canterbury Tales differs from other literature of the period in terms of its naturalism, its varied characters and the variety of stories the pilgrims tell. Today we are toasting this great work with a Pilgrim cocktail.