The year was 1975. A young woman in her 20’s, who had been cooking all her life and was well known by friends and family for her culinary talents and a knack for entertaining, named Nancy Zimmer, was living in Sacramento. She was a single mom with her two young kids, Tamera and Josh, making a living for the time being doing accounting and records in a medical office. A young man named Randall Selland, also in his 20’s, was working and creating alongside his mother in the stained glass studio they owned in Old Folsom called Gemini Glass. At the time, Randall had yet to have his passion for cooking sparked.
As fate would have it, one day Nancy was attending the annual Harvest Festival at the Sacramento Convention Center, where she came upon a stained glass booth and noticed a piece that caught her eye called “Night to Day,” created by one Randall Selland. It was large 4ft round stained glass window, a unique, contemporary piece in whites and grays. Intrigued, since she had always been creative and artistic herself, Nancy decided to enroll in the stained glass class Randall was teaching at the studio in Folsom.
From the very first moment there was an immediate spark between the two. Then one night during class there was a huge storm and the power went out in the studio, so Randall and Nancy decided to go next door for a drink. They talked for hours over candlelight and bonded over many things, including their shared love of Jackson Browne, a love Nancy would later find out was feigned for the sake of the budding romance. Randall would, of course, come to love Jackson Browne in due time.
Soon Nancy introduced Randall to her children, Tamera and Josh, who were 5 and 3 years old at the time. Seeing that he was so great with them and that he was a natural with kids, and that the feeling was mutual, sealed the deal. Randall and Nancy have been inseparable since that fateful stormy night.
Nancy’s talents in the kitchen and with entertaining eventually sparked an interest in Randall, inspiring him to switch career paths. Of course, eventually they began creating, cooking, and working alongside each other at The Kitchen in 1991 along with Tamera and Josh who were now 21 and 19 years old. Twenty-five years later, with their “kids” now middle aged and their 4 grandkids growing up fast, Randall and Nancy are still inseparable, side-by-side every day. And they still have that stained glass piece, “Night to Day,” somewhere in the basement. The family might all have to get together and see if they can convince them to hang it up at The Kitchen!
