It must surely be a cocktail for disaster when Tuesday becomes the new Friday

The Diary was delighted by the appearance of a bottle of Southern Comfort and a carnival mask on its desk recently – and, after mixing up a couple of much needed prairie oysters, the afternoon fairly flew by.

The reason for the bottle and facewear’s arrival was something called Fat Tuesday which, it seems, is a party of sorts.

After some research the Diary deduced that Fat Tuesday is a literal translation of the French Mardi Gras, which fell on February 28 this year.

It is not the Diary’s place to reason why, but it couldn’t help wondering how come the Southern Comfort Fat Tuesday party is taking place on May 5 this year. Then again, when free liquor is abroad, who cares?

So, after studying the cocktail recipe book that arrived with the Southern Comfort invite to Fat Tuesday, would anyone care for a mint cobbler?