Randelicious’s Blog

I am launching my first blog on Mother’s Day as I sit here at Grand Central Bakery in my neighborhood of Eastlake in Seattle.  I notice lots of mothers around having breakfast w/their families and started thinking that this is perfect timing!  I remembered the pancake breakfasts at St. Agnes Church and the carnations that all the mothers received and pinned to their Sunday dresses.

What I realized when contemplating   my  first blog today, was that the women in my life were and still are a HUGE influence on my passion for this business and my success.  I’m going to share with you the path that’s made it obvious that my business is my destiny !

My mother was also self employed and an incredibly strong, courageous woman. She was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer at 37 years of age and was told that she had only a few months to live. She lived another 7 ½ years. I learned about courage and commitment from my mother and also that the food you choose really does matter. I saw her prolong her life with healthy food as a huge part of it. She made a huge lifestyle change, eating fresh whole foods from Gentle Strength Coop in Tempe, AZ while she was being treated at an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico.

My grandma taught me about nourishment.  She loved her grandchildren unconditionally.  I remember her saying things like “honey, I love you with ALLLLL my heart”. She had no idea how much that meant to me.  It sounded like all of the love in the whole world to a kid.  I remember telling her once that a boy kept staring at me when we were at a Peter Piper Pizza when I was maybe 8 or 9 and her telling me “well, he’s staring at you because you are so beautiful!  She said it so intensely that it stopped you in your tracks.

She had a wonderful tradition of making us all an elaborate dinner for each birthday.  We had to choose the roast beef or fried chicken dinner with gravy, mashed potatoes, cucumber tomato salad, and green beans OR the fried chicken dinner with all of the previously mentioned sides – but w/chicken gravy..mmm.  This was an excruciating decision, folks.  I remember I always wanted more time to choose, but I always had to decide right away when she called me from the grocery store. And then there was the unforgettable same red velvet birthday cake.  In later years we were devastated when she refused to put the red food coloring in because she heard it caused cancer.  I own that red velvet cake recipe but it just really isn’t the same without her delivering it in person to your house in her green VW bus!  Grandma would take us to a health store Hadley’s Orchards in Phoenix so that we could buy granola, dried fruits, and scoop fresh raw nuts out of these big barrels.  Every thanksgiving she would drive 2 ½ hours north to Young’s Farm where she would buy a couple natural turkeys for us.  These turkeys were free range before free range was “hip”.  No hormones or antibiotics either.  She wanted a fresh, not frozen turkey and the drive was well worth it.  She was always reading about medicinal herbs and other alternative medicine books.  She had survived breast cancer herself and at that point in my childhood, her son, my Uncle Chuck had overcome non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  She used to go out into the desert to harvest chaparral to boil into a liver cleansing tea for him.  This is where my interest in nutrition sparked.  I loved reading her How to Herb book and it is still on my shelf today. Being surrounded by cancer on that side of the family also sparked my interest in cancer prevention – for my own sake!

When we were sick, our busy mother sent us off to grandma’s where she would have those bendy straws, Canada Dry ginger ale to settle our stomachs, and for some reason that she could never really explain to us -frozen grapes ( a Phoenix thing?). When I got a little better, she would bake one of those terrible frozen pizzas with the square pepperonis and serve it on a t.v. tray where I would get to stay up late with her to watch her shows. Now that pizza was not organic and was even partially hydrogenated, and yet on a t.v. tray in front of Fantasy Island or Murder She Wrote, that frozen Frisbee was transformed into a magical feast. I must confess that once in awhile I still go down to Pete’s Market in my neighborhood to buy one of those nasty pizzas – hoping that I don’t see anyone I know there. People expect me to be the perfect little health nut, you know.

Two incredible women, Jo Anne Carter and Mary Angelle McMurtry,  inspired me to always look at alternative solutions, that food can save your life, and that no matter what – keep on going.  It made me feel so good to share this with you! I am very passionate about our mission here and I will continue to show you how thrilled I am to do what I do.