The A-Train, Ramen Noodles, and Cuarenta y Tres

You know you're becoming an adult when an awesome way to spend your Saturday night is with your parents.  We took the train out to Queens today to have dinner with my parents, since we didn't want to move our cars due to the ridiculously inordinate amount of snow the tri-state area has received (in case you are lucky enough to live elsewhere, or live under a rock).  And, living in Bay Ridge, parking is really at a premium here.  I mean, you practically have to own stock in the Bay Ridge Block Association in order to find a parking spot when you get home.  Anyway, in case you are lucky enough not to be an adult yet, I will tip you off to the reasons why Saturday night with the 'rents may just be the best night of the week.  It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than going out.  I tried calculating how much money we saved tonight.  Estimates are based on obscenely overpriced Manhattan restaurants and bars. 

1. Free dinner.  Simply stated, in two words.  And it's good dinner, too.  You know when you're a kid, and you asked your mom, "What's for dinner?" and whatever answer she gave you complained about?  Well, that doesn't happen anymore once you move out.  Anything sounds like a gourmet meal compared to ramen noodles or Chef Boyardee Meatballs & Macaroni.  And did I mention it's free?  Money saved on dinner: $40.00

  2.  Free drinks.  You don't realize how much your parents enjoy a good cocktail until you're an adult like them.  And much like the food category, their liquor cabinet is much more well stocked than yours, and more eclectic.  Apparently, when you're an adult, you don't just drink; you drink in courses.  First, there are appetizer drinks (a white wine, a light beer).  Then there are dinner drinks (maybe a red wine, or a scotch).  Then there are dessert drinks.  Cream liqueurs are popular with adults.  My dad produced about ten different varieties while we ate homemade brownies.  Dave's choice was a caramel liqueur, while I opted for good ole' 43, a Spanish liqueur which my dad, ever the cultured fellow, kept calling "Cuarenta y tres."  Between the two of us, we had four glasses of wine, three beer, and five shots of liqueur.  Money saved on drinks: $85.00

3.  Free transportation.  Of course, my dad ended up driving us home because my parents felt bad making us take the train home.  Gotta love that parental protection!  Money saved on train ride home: $5.00 (and a lot of time, and falling asleep on Dave's shoulder and drooling).

4. Good company.  Another surefire sign you're becoming an adult is when you realize you actually want to hang out with your parents and that they're not just two people you happen to live in the same house with who are ridiculously out of touch with anything you might want to talk about.  Turns out they actually know a lot, and can offer some really handy advice about, well pretty much anything.  They've been around the block before.  And more often than not, you've inherited their sense of humor so they like to make fun of the same things (and people) you do.  This can be more entertaining than you might expect, especially on $85 worth of alcohol.  Money saved on company: $0, unless you're the kind of person who pays for company.

So we saved $130.00 and we enjoyed good company.  The only drawback was that we didn't get to steal the cool glasses my parents served our drinks in, which we would have done if we were at a bar.  Oh, believe me, we would have tried, but we wouldn't have gotten away with it; my parents were the ones who taught me that trick.