Sera Jeon
Won the printer’s proof of the Alinea Cookbook, signed by Chef Achatz
by cracking the code to get into FOODSTOCK
Sera (right) and her husband Eric
How did you hear about the game?
My husband got the email from the Alinea group about its 15th Anniversary. Initially we started on the first puzzle and thought that it could be a fun way to spend time during the shelter-in-place order in Chicago.
Walk me through your experience with solving the Foodstock puzzle.
We found this puzzle to be SO much harder than the “Space Bar” which we could solve using more of visual cues than extensive knowledge on music. When we first looked at the puzzle - initial response was to play around with the first letters of each word — which we were able to get to “None of the the small band names are clues” and ruled out a lot of unnecessary cues in the puzzle. Then we figured the names below in the stages would be the (fake) singer/band names. Then we attempted to match the fake band names to the fake song names... My Rumps was the easiest one for us and the rest was some extensive googling of bands and albums. Here my husband’s spreadsheet skills came in handy in organizing the names together with the stage numbers which we worked out to be a set of numbers. We were stuck here for a while and started googling phone numbers and area codes of places which cost us a few hours. Then we finally got to working out that it’s the n’th number from the actual singer/band names... all-in-all a gargantuan effort in solving this one!
What other kinds of puzzles or games do you play?
We’ve been playing Nintendo Switch a decent amount during the shelter-in-place. Recently been playing Overcooked 2 - which is actually a culinary game! Coincidence?! I would highly recommend, you really get to test out your multi-tasking skills and teamwork with your partner! For board games, we enjoyed playing Rummikub with our friends but saving that for when we’ll all be allowed to visit each other freely.
What will you do with the proofs?
We are still debating... we are going to have to find a wall to hang it on, our kitchen is the top candidate... just cook something off the wall!
Have you dined at Alinea or our other restaurants?
My husband has been to the restaurant when he attended school in Chicago. I have yet to visit in person. I’m really looking forward to an in-person experience at some point! We tried our first experience with the takeout a few weeks back and eagerly waiting on the 15th anniversary dinner at home this Wednesday!
How do you spend your days?
Shelter-in-place has granted me the luxury to spend more time thinking about my diet and I actually started eating keto and learning about the different recipes in keto. Lack of social activities has its upside! I don’t think I would’ve been able to keep up with the strict restrictions with the tempting restaurant scenes in Chicago. Obviously we have the 15th anniversary dinner this week from Alinea, which I’m declaring a cheating meal!
How are you keeping healthy and sane during quarantine?
I’ve discovered alternative ways to exercise, mainly keeping up with live online home training, yoga, and pilates classes.... and of course solving Alinea puzzles!
