In my callow youth, all I wanted was to eat magically delicious neon yellow Kraft macaroni and cheese or that mysterious meat known as “Salisbury steak.” I’ve written before about the more challenging foods I grew up with instead. As an adult, I’ve come to appreciate the food that my mother prepares from vegetables harvested from her back (and front)! yards…I still don’t like eating sea cucumbers and acorns, though.

Here’s my mom’s own recipe for her Korean-style salad:

1. Harvest lettuce from your suburban plot turned farmscape.

2. Harvest other green, unidentifiable plants you’ve grown from seeds sent to you from Korea.

3. Dress with wild sesame oil (which is a bit thicker than regular sesame oil), soy sauce, garlic powder, sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.

I can’t tell you the proportions, because my mom makes it up as she goes along, but I can tell you it’s yummy!