Adulting can be hard. Bills to pay, jobs to go to, alarms to set. But adulting has its perks too. And one of those perks is the tasting menu bang bang.

The TMBB is a combination of two elite food concepts: 1) the tasting menu: 10+ small dishes served at a fancy restaurant, and 2) the bangbang: eating two meals right after each other.

The TMBB asks the question: if 10 courses are awesome, wouldn't 20 better? Having recently completed an unintentional TMBB, I can heartily say yes, indeed.

My personal TMBB story began by making a reservation at Quintonil in Mexico City for lunch on Friday - or so I thought. Turns out my American-centric view of the calendar caused me to misread it and book on Saturday instead. At the same time, my credit card conceirge unexpectedly came through with a Saturday dinner reservation at Pujol. The double tasting menu challenge was on.

And what a challenge it is. Given you are spending the equivalent of a small apartment's month rent on two meals, failing to achieve an orgasmic level of enjoyment from each bite is unacceptable.

Yet the path to this enjoyment is fraught with peril: tiredness, drunkness, fullness, and guilt lurk around every corner.

But fear not, adulter. I present to you my ceritified Pro Tips for TMBB success.

1. Make your reservations in advance. The best restaurants fill up fast and as you’ll see below, times are critical. Consider using a credit card conceirge to get in. Hurry up before this secret to great adulting becomes even more popular or you decide this is actually a silly idea.

2. Select your times carefully. Too close and you will get full. Too far apart and you will risk losing momentum. We did the first tasting menu starting at 1, and the second starting at 6:30. This allowed a 2 hour break between two 3.5 hour meals. Important metric: if you spend at least 20% of a given 9 hour period not eating, you’re technically not a glutton.

3. Consider giving to a charity to head off the inevitable privilege guilt that sets in around course 13.

4. Get money. Time to cash in on that adulting. In Mexico City it was about $172 all in for food and alcohol plus tip per meal. Prices will vary by restaurant of course, and also by whether you get too drunk and decide to order supplementary wine.

5. Do not make any plans after. I personally felt much better than I expected after that much food and booze (perhaps high quality incredients?) but I was definitely ready for bed. Bring your A game to the main event and leave it all on the field.

6. Do not eat breakfast for the obvious reason of maximizing stomach room. But also because you have only a few hours of free time until your food shift starts. Get any regular adulting done during this period. Consider working out to increase appetite and to rationalize to yourself that you’re actually just doing a bulk day.

7. Take pictures of all courses. No, this isn’t to brag to your friends on Instagram (well, not _just_ for that reason). Failing to document can trigger a TMBB panic attack, where you assume you’re only 4 dishes in when in fact you are 9. Being able to reference your history will reduce the chance of getting disoriented or overwhelmed.

8. Walk vigorously during the period between tasting menus. Be honest with yourself that you don’t have time to do a gym workout and you’re not going to feel like one either. See if you can do something “afternoon-y” to emphasize that this is a legitimate time between lunch and dinner and not just a rest break.

9. Seek to maintain a BAC in the .02-.06 range. This will heighten your enjoyment without dulling your senses. If you just stick with the recommended wine pairings you should be fine. Although you will be tempted, resist the urge to do a hybrid after party of lunch and pre-party between meals. Or go ahead and do it anyway because you are an adult.

10. Eat cheap food the next day to prove to yourself that you aren’t developing expensive tastes. It’s a great day for Taco Bell.