"This was my dream. This is all I ever wanted to do and sure you get tired sometimes but then you have to remember this is all you ever wanted to do. When you're lucky enough to practice the craft you wanted to do your whole life successfully, you always find space in yourself not to take it for granted. "...Jeff Smedstad
"There can be a million ways to look at it; It can be about the food; but it's not just about the food. It can be about your customers and how happy they can be; it can be about your staff and how far they've come in their growth, or where you're standing today as far as pulling your team together and making it better. As much as it's important to have great recipes; it's really important to put together a great team.”
"The opportunities I've had and the people that I've met in Sedona have made it even more special, like yourself (yes, that would be Janise) who have helped me put together my books. That was a pipe dream when I moved here to Sedona and that all came into reality and then I met Carole who helped with the editing and designing.
You look at the body of what's happened in the 10 years I've been here; it's been a decade now, and you're grateful to see that you've had this growth and you're wondering what can we do to top it, and hopefully tonight we'll top it.
At the base of it, I've always wanted to be a chef and take care of people and I've always wanted to have a successful restaurant. I never really dreamed I would have a book, so that's on top of that, and it's like a dream, and that's what keeps me going; and it's really cool!
I'm still trying to figure out how not to lose the fun in everything.
One of the things I admire about other people is they have fun doing what they do and it seems effortless and I know now it's not effortless, but if you can do it with some degree of effort and some degree of fun, it can really make it special!"
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