Latest / I Am All In with Scott Patterson / Luke’s Diner: Find Your Happy Place
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I Am all in Again. Let's you. I Am all
- 0:17Speaker 1: in again with Scott Patterson in iHeartRadio Podcast. Hey Everybody,
- 0:23Speaker 1: Scott Patterson, I Am all in Podcast one eleven productions. iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia,
- 0:27Speaker 1: iHeart Podcast. Very special guest today on Luke Steiner Joanna
- 0:32Speaker 1: Garcia Swisher. Let me tell you a little bit about Joanna.
- 0:36Speaker 1: She's an American actress and a businesswoman, widely recognized for
- 0:40Speaker 1: her roles as Sam on Are You Afraid of the Dark,
- 0:42Speaker 1: Vicky Appleby on Freaks and Geeks, and Seyanne Hart Montgomery
- 0:46Speaker 1: on Riba. She currently stars in the Netflix show Sweet Magnolia's.
- 0:50Speaker 1: She is also the founder of the blog The Happy Place,
- 0:54Speaker 1: where she shares her favorite insights on food, home design,
- 0:58Speaker 1: and self care. She is married to former baseball star
- 1:01Speaker 1: Nick Swisher and is a mother of two. Hello, Joanne,
- 1:08Speaker 1: nice to meet you.
- 1:09Speaker 2: Got it? Who wrote that? Because I feel like I
- 1:12Speaker 2: need to I need that I need.
- 1:13Speaker 1: That wasn't me, wasn't man.
- 1:17Speaker 2: Like you covered all the bases.
- 1:18Speaker 1: There's there's a very very competent team of specialists here.
- 1:24Speaker 2: I mean, send that over.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Okay, you got it? So thanks for coming on. And
- 1:32Speaker 1: I didn't know that you were such a foodie and
- 1:35Speaker 1: you all, oh yeah, besides all of your other, you know,
- 1:38Speaker 1: busy career highlights and accomplishments, you are a foodie and
- 1:44Speaker 1: you blog about food.
- 1:46Speaker 2: I do.
- 1:46Speaker 1: How did that start?
- 1:47Speaker 3: It actually started about in twenty seventeen. It was more
- 1:52Speaker 3: of an interior design based because I went to school
- 1:55Speaker 3: for that and that was something that I felt really
- 1:56Speaker 3: passionate about.
- 1:57Speaker 2: And so someone asked me if I should you know, like,
- 1:59Speaker 2: Wh're not sure? That what the word old? And I
- 2:00Speaker 2: thought why not?
- 2:01Speaker 3: But as time went on, I realized that what I
- 2:04Speaker 3: enjoyed about the Happy Place was just sort of sharing
- 2:07Speaker 3: a little slice of my life, and a lot of
- 2:10Speaker 3: that is eating and in the kitchen, and as I
- 2:13Speaker 3: became a mother and all of those things, and you know,
- 2:16Speaker 3: I'm certainly no chef. In fact, one of my friends
- 2:19Speaker 3: who is a chef, she says that she watches me
- 2:22Speaker 3: with knives on the Happy Place. That is like, oh God,
- 2:26Speaker 3: is she gonna she gonna take her tip, the tip
- 2:28Speaker 3: of her knife, the tip of her figure up. But
- 2:31Speaker 3: it's so much a part of you know, I'm my
- 2:34Speaker 3: I'm Cuban and my mom was a great cook and
- 2:39Speaker 3: so so many of my memories with her were in
- 2:42Speaker 3: the kitchen, and I just it's a passion and we
- 2:47Speaker 3: just I just share what I like.
- 2:48Speaker 1: So what's what's one nostalgic food from your childhood that
- 2:52Speaker 1: you that you still prepare and still crave.
- 2:55Speaker 3: And I still prepare pigadillo, which is like a ground
- 2:58Speaker 3: beef Cuban. It's a Cuban dish, very much a beloved
- 3:03Speaker 3: meal in our home and something that really just brings
- 3:07Speaker 3: us back, and I love as my mom is amazing
- 3:10Speaker 3: at it. It was I think that my most favorite
- 3:12Speaker 3: thing that she made. But I can't make it. My
- 3:16Speaker 3: brother makes it just like my mom did with like
- 3:18Speaker 3: the rice that was just crispy enough.
- 3:19Speaker 2: I haven't.
- 3:21Speaker 3: I don't have it. I don't have the secret sauce
- 3:23Speaker 3: to be able to do that. But I'm my brother is.
- 3:26Speaker 3: I think he's an orthpeedic surgeon, but I think he
- 3:28Speaker 3: could be a chef and loves it, so I always
- 3:31Speaker 3: make him cook that or paea.
- 3:33Speaker 2: You know, I love like rice and meat.
- 3:35Speaker 1: All all right? So do you go to a lot
- 3:41Speaker 1: of concerts? We just we just had Vicki Pedis and
- 3:43Speaker 1: from the Bangles on and they were in this episode
- 3:46Speaker 1: the concert interrupted. Do you go to concerts? Do you
- 3:49Speaker 1: and Nick go to concerts?
- 3:50Speaker 2: We do, I mean we anything that really comes into town.
- 3:53Speaker 2: We try.
- 3:53Speaker 3: I feel like I find myself most these days going
- 3:56Speaker 3: to country music. We're going to Kelsea Ballerini that's coming
- 3:58Speaker 3: to Tampa a couple of weeks. My girlfriend or my
- 4:01Speaker 3: children are so excited, and so we're taking all of
- 4:03Speaker 3: their friends and their mom friends beating only dude. But
- 4:07Speaker 3: someone needs to be there to kind of rein it
- 4:09Speaker 3: in and make sure we don't like lose our minds.
- 4:12Speaker 3: Reva's coming back to town. She's coming to a strawberry
- 4:15Speaker 3: festival in Tampa, So I'm super excited about that. But yeah,
- 4:17Speaker 3: I love I love music. I love live music, and
- 4:20Speaker 3: I just anything that comes to town. I usually try
- 4:24Speaker 3: to get in there.
- 4:26Speaker 1: Do you guys take your own food? You have concert
- 4:28Speaker 1: food or just get and what's they're selling it there?
- 4:32Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 4:33Speaker 2: Well, I love a tailgate more than anything in life.
- 4:37Speaker 2: Is well, I won't.
- 4:38Speaker 3: Say more than anything in life, but I do really
- 4:40Speaker 3: love a tailgate, and I do find the shows that
- 4:42Speaker 3: come to the stadium you get a lot of tailgating,
- 4:45Speaker 3: which is this is where I really thrive up, like
- 4:49Speaker 3: bringing a dish that's gonna stand up to the hours
- 4:52Speaker 3: on end that you can nibble on that after a
- 4:55Speaker 3: few cocktails you can come back to and eat cold
- 4:58Speaker 3: even though it started warm.
- 5:00Speaker 2: Things that really have that you know that age.
- 5:02Speaker 3: Well, that's where I that's where I feel like I
- 5:05Speaker 3: drive right.
- 5:07Speaker 1: By the way. Shout out to your husband. I was
- 5:10Speaker 1: a Yankee myself. Oh my god, a long time ago.
- 5:14Speaker 1: I was on the forty man roster in nineteen eighty three.
- 5:18Speaker 2: Fun real, what position?
- 5:20Speaker 1: I was a starting pitcher.
- 5:22Speaker 2: That's so cool.
- 5:22Speaker 1: And guys like your husband were always you know, they're
- 5:26Speaker 1: rare because you want a guy like that in the
- 5:29Speaker 1: clubhouse who's positive and energetic, and you know that's that's
- 5:33Speaker 1: the kind of a guy that gets you through like
- 5:36Speaker 1: the rough parts of the season, because it doesn't matter
- 5:38Speaker 1: how good your team is, you're going to have downturns.
- 5:41Speaker 1: But anyway, shout out to him. He had a great
- 5:43Speaker 1: he had a great career. Positive guy, full of energy
- 5:47Speaker 1: and good vibes and uh and with him and a
- 5:53Speaker 1: very very dangerous hitter.
- 5:55Speaker 3: But yeah, part I had no idea what I was
- 5:58Speaker 3: getting into when I met him, But I now quite
- 6:00Speaker 3: a baseball efficient, it's not.
- 6:04Speaker 1: And you guys met while he was still playing.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Yeah, we met in two thousand and nine here in
- 6:10Speaker 2: New York.
- 6:10Speaker 3: I was shooting Gossip Girl and he it was his
- 6:12Speaker 3: first year with the Yankees, and we got set up
- 6:15Speaker 3: by a mutual friend, and ten months later we were engaged.
- 6:18Speaker 3: Six months after that we were married. And he won
- 6:21Speaker 3: the World Series that year. And so I really didn't
- 6:23Speaker 3: I thought you'd do that every year.
- 6:25Speaker 1: Oh No, I.
- 6:26Speaker 3: Really closed this year in New York, and I have
- 6:30Speaker 3: high hope hopes next year.
- 6:31Speaker 2: But I realized that it's not so easy to do that.
- 6:34Speaker 3: So I feel super grateful for the experience. But I
- 6:38Speaker 3: think if you're a Yankee fan, I know not everyone is,
- 6:41Speaker 3: but in our house we are very much Yankee fans.
- 6:43Speaker 2: I think we're ready for another one. So we'd like
- 6:45Speaker 2: to see another one.
- 6:46Speaker 1: Yes, So if you could share a meal with any
- 6:51Speaker 1: Gilmore girl's character, who would it be? And why?
- 6:57Speaker 2: Oh? I mean Rory. I think, you know, I just
- 7:01Speaker 2: feel like I just related so much to her character, and.
- 7:07Speaker 3: It'd be nice just to kind of hash it all out,
- 7:09Speaker 3: just be like, let's let's talk, let's talk.
- 7:10Speaker 2: About all of it.
- 7:12Speaker 1: Mm hmmm mm hmm. All right, let's talk about your
- 7:15Speaker 1: happy place, your your your blog okay, focuses on food,
- 7:20Speaker 1: home designs, some self care. What inspired you to create it?
- 7:25Speaker 1: How do you and how do you hope it'll it'll
- 7:27Speaker 1: help others find their own happy place?
- 7:30Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's like I said, it's a real
- 7:33Speaker 3: It's like my diary almost. You know, we we certainly
- 7:37Speaker 3: aren't always talking about things that make us happy. You know,
- 7:41Speaker 3: I've shared my grief, I've shared my moments of anxiety,
- 7:45Speaker 3: what it feels like to become a mother, the balance
- 7:49Speaker 3: of being a working mom. It really just is a
- 7:52Speaker 3: little peek into my heart and my life and and
- 7:58Speaker 3: as it's grown, it's really just it's, like I said,
- 8:01Speaker 3: I've said this so many times, but it's like saved
- 8:03Speaker 3: me in so many ways and connecting. And I do
- 8:06Speaker 3: really feel like the energy that you put out comes
- 8:08Speaker 3: back to you. And I think that this world can
- 8:10Speaker 3: be really overwhelming at times. And not to say that
- 8:14Speaker 3: I always like this because I am I am a
- 8:16Speaker 3: fiery latina.
- 8:19Speaker 2: I can get worked up with the best of my
- 8:21Speaker 2: mom's as an actress. But I do feel like.
- 8:25Speaker 3: We have created this community of just you know, positivity
- 8:29Speaker 3: and being real and not nothing's too perfect, and it
- 8:35Speaker 3: certainly isn't you know, too polished or you know, it
- 8:39Speaker 3: just just it's a little part of my heart and
- 8:42Speaker 3: I feel like it's attracted that in our community. And
- 8:47Speaker 3: then our production company that we've launched was inspired by
- 8:51Speaker 3: our book club.
- 8:53Speaker 2: Now we're actively like producing right now.
- 8:56Speaker 3: We're I'm leaving tonight to go to Ireland because we
- 8:58Speaker 3: have movies and products and we're shooting in Ireland over
- 9:01Speaker 3: the next little bit. And it just feels like a
- 9:04Speaker 3: dream come true. And so it really, like I said,
- 9:07Speaker 3: it's taken on shape in so many ways, but that
- 9:09Speaker 3: really was came from my love of reading and sharing
- 9:12Speaker 3: books and not books that are fancy or necessarily you know,
- 9:16Speaker 3: the book of the month or whatever it may be,
- 9:18Speaker 3: or one that everybody's talking about like it sometimes they're
- 9:21Speaker 3: smutty romance.
- 9:22Speaker 2: Novels or really simple homecoms or.
- 9:25Speaker 3: You know, we're not trying to be anything that we're not,
- 9:27Speaker 3: which is just like we were just living and right that.
- 9:31Speaker 3: You know, if you want to come along for the ride,
- 9:33Speaker 3: you are more than welcome.
- 9:43Speaker 1: So you see food as a form of well it
- 9:47Speaker 1: is I mean it's just sort of giving love. Yes,
- 9:50Speaker 1: you know, it's it's how you prepare the food, and
- 9:53Speaker 1: you want to see the reactions on people's faces when
- 9:56Speaker 1: they eat it their first bite, and you want to
- 10:00Speaker 1: feedback because I cook for my family. I love cooking.
- 10:03Speaker 1: I love it. I love it, and I'm always trying
- 10:06Speaker 1: new recipes or new additives and sauces and things like that,
- 10:09Speaker 1: and I want the reaction. Sometimes I get a thumbs down,
- 10:12Speaker 1: a lot of times I get a thumbs up, but
- 10:15Speaker 1: I'm invested, you know. So you're the same the same way, right,
- 10:18Speaker 1: So what's what's your meal? What's the one meal the
- 10:23Speaker 1: two meals that you really love to prepare for your family?
- 10:26Speaker 2: Well, dinner is kind of a non negotiable.
- 10:29Speaker 3: When we're all home, we eat together, even though, but
- 10:31Speaker 3: I will say, as much as I paint this picture
- 10:35Speaker 3: on happy place that you know we're cooking, and like, yes,
- 10:38Speaker 3: do I put this on the table for my family,
- 10:40Speaker 3: my kids are still real kids and they're like, that's
- 10:43Speaker 3: got some weird spice in it or what is that
- 10:46Speaker 3: looks weird or something like that. So like it's very
- 10:48Speaker 3: real at my house and also has a lot of feedback.
- 10:53Speaker 2: But so I want to just make sure that's out
- 10:56Speaker 2: there that I don't have these like magical kids that
- 10:59Speaker 2: eat everything that I or love to eat. We do
- 11:02Speaker 2: have something in.
- 11:03Speaker 3: Our house called food challenge. Also, Nick eats more than anything.
- 11:07Speaker 3: I cannot keep up with his eating, so he now
- 11:12Speaker 3: is like a food delivery service, but he will People
- 11:15Speaker 3: will be like, I think, I just saw you eat
- 11:17Speaker 3: three meals. I hear that the fork puncturing the plastic
- 11:22Speaker 3: and microwave go on, and I could be in the
- 11:24Speaker 3: kitchen cooking and nothing enrages me more around like jeez, Nick,
- 11:29Speaker 3: like what the hell you know?
- 11:30Speaker 1: Like what are you meaning?
- 11:32Speaker 3: But we have food challenge in our house and it
- 11:36Speaker 3: usually is when we're out to dinner because when we're
- 11:39Speaker 3: are traveling, we kind of ask our kids to, you know,
- 11:43Speaker 3: do the food challenge. And that's just picking something that
- 11:46Speaker 3: they normally wouldn't eat. And my kids have tried oysters.
- 11:48Speaker 3: They didn't like them, but they've tried things that normally
- 11:51Speaker 3: they wouldn't and that's just fun. It's fun to experience
- 11:54Speaker 3: food and be a little bit adventurous. And like I said,
- 11:56Speaker 3: so much, I mean, we are the family where it's
- 11:58Speaker 3: like I'm cooking breakfast.
- 11:59Speaker 2: That's the other thing you ask me. The two meals.
- 12:01Speaker 3: I really love breakfast just because it's just like the
- 12:04Speaker 3: start of the day and knowing there's something you know,
- 12:07Speaker 3: I'm a mom, there's something in me knowing that like
- 12:09Speaker 3: I've given my kids some like nourishment and their brain
- 12:11Speaker 3: and their bodies before I send them off to school
- 12:13Speaker 3: or on their feels like Okay, I checked that box.
- 12:15Speaker 2: I did that really well. But yeah, so those were
- 12:18Speaker 2: the two those are the two big meals for me.
- 12:20Speaker 2: But yeah, it's like just about for me.
- 12:23Speaker 3: It's I completely associate eating with like togetherness and memories
- 12:27Speaker 3: and you know, they're activating our senses, our sense of
- 12:31Speaker 3: smell or sense of taste, and our sense of sight.
- 12:33Speaker 3: So it's just like all of these things that are
- 12:35Speaker 3: really important and stick with you, is what it is.
- 12:40Speaker 1: And well, yeah, our our our family dinners are everything
- 12:44Speaker 1: to me. Yeah right, it's I mean when we're home, Yeah,
- 12:47Speaker 1: it's it's got to be a family dinner. We go
- 12:49Speaker 1: out once in a while and love it. But you know,
- 12:52Speaker 1: those round the dinner table conversations are priceless, they are,
- 12:57Speaker 1: and it's it's where we really have the best time
- 13:00Speaker 1: together as a family unless we're on a vacation some
- 13:03Speaker 1: fabulous place. Yeah.
- 13:04Speaker 2: And by the way, usually around a table there too.
- 13:06Speaker 1: Exactly right, right, Yeah, I just looked so forward to dinner. OK,
- 13:13Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about Sweet Magnolias. Tell us
- 13:15Speaker 1: a little bit about it. It's it's it's on Netflix.
- 13:20Speaker 1: Are are you? This is season more four? Oh yeah? Wow?
- 13:25Speaker 1: So that's that's a good long run for Netflix show.
- 13:28Speaker 2: Well, I know, it feels like a dream come true.
- 13:30Speaker 3: I was just talking to Heather Hedley, who's one of
- 13:32Speaker 3: my co stars, she's one of the Magnolias this morning
- 13:35Speaker 3: and we were just reflecting on it, like we talk
- 13:39Speaker 3: all the time, but these moments of like the day
- 13:41Speaker 3: of when things drop and it's like we are both
- 13:44Speaker 3: so nervous and you know, we work hard on these
- 13:47Speaker 3: things and we care so much. But then she said,
- 13:49Speaker 3: you know, Joe, like this, like I was like breastfeeding
- 13:52Speaker 3: my daughter when this offer came in. You got a
- 13:55Speaker 3: call and said you have to move to your family
- 13:56Speaker 3: to Atlanta in like three days, Like it just material
- 14:01Speaker 3: materialized out of nowhere and then and it's been this
- 14:05Speaker 3: beautiful story and it's been such a gift, you know,
- 14:11Speaker 3: the last four years in my life, I've lost my mom,
- 14:14Speaker 3: my dad, and my grandmother.
- 14:16Speaker 2: We've had a pandemic, we've had writer strike, actor strike, like,
- 14:19Speaker 2: it's a lot.
- 14:20Speaker 1: It's a lot now and.
- 14:23Speaker 3: This show has been such a mainstay and there's such
- 14:26Speaker 3: a beautiful love that we've all created and it feels
- 14:29Speaker 3: really special because, as you know, those things don't come
- 14:32Speaker 3: around very often, and those opportunities to really dig in
- 14:35Speaker 3: and become a family, you know, things don't last that long,
- 14:39Speaker 3: and so it just really has been such a blessing
- 14:43Speaker 3: and the show I think, really has that heart and
- 14:46Speaker 3: you know, it's not trying to be anything that it's not.
- 14:49Speaker 3: It's you know, it's a sexy, sweet drama that's said
- 14:54Speaker 3: in the South, but it's also about friendship and it's
- 14:57Speaker 3: a I think that it really celebrates friendshi in its
- 15:00Speaker 3: most beautiful form, which is you know, your chosen family
- 15:03Speaker 3: and supporting each other and really being in it with
- 15:06Speaker 3: each other through thick and thin.
- 15:08Speaker 2: And we certainly have been through a lot.
- 15:10Speaker 1: And you're doing what you're doing ten episodes, nine episodes, Yeah,
- 15:13Speaker 1: and you're what are you down there for like four
- 15:15Speaker 1: months or something?
- 15:16Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it doesn't take as long.
- 15:18Speaker 3: And that's why these shows are so great to have
- 15:21Speaker 3: a balance in your life, because you know, you get
- 15:24Speaker 3: I get an opportunity to really be a mom and
- 15:27Speaker 3: an entrepreneur and now a producer and explore all of
- 15:31Speaker 3: those things. But then I also get to do the
- 15:33Speaker 3: show that I'm so so proud of. So it has
- 15:37Speaker 3: been such a gift and I am in a very
- 15:42Speaker 3: heightened moment of gratitude in my life right now where
- 15:46Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, these are really great gifts and so
- 15:50Speaker 3: I'm super thankful.
- 15:52Speaker 1: Atlanta. You're in Atlanta. Huh Yeah.
- 15:55Speaker 2: We love Atlanta.
- 15:56Speaker 3: And we bought a home right outside of Atlanta on
- 16:00Speaker 3: a lake called Lake a Cony And talk about my
- 16:02Speaker 3: happy place, Like that is the most magical place ever.
- 16:06Speaker 2: And we have these incredible friends and this incredible.
- 16:09Speaker 3: Community that my kids get to go and my husband
- 16:13Speaker 3: gets to be at that we like, they love, and
- 16:16Speaker 3: I get to work and then we have this like
- 16:19Speaker 3: small town that's wrapped its arms around me. And one
- 16:22Speaker 3: of our guys in the prop department told me one
- 16:27Speaker 3: night after we were working, He's like, you know, my
- 16:30Speaker 3: parents live in Like a Cony and they're just so
- 16:31Speaker 3: proud of you. And I was like, oh my god, absolutely,
- 16:34Speaker 3: I would like thank you, and he's like, no, it's
- 16:37Speaker 3: just like you're a part of the community now, and
- 16:39Speaker 3: so it feels like that same feeling of like sweet
- 16:42Speaker 3: my noise, like serenity, like a coney for me, where
- 16:44Speaker 3: I'm just like people are magic, wonderful.
- 16:50Speaker 1: Well, it's been great getting to talk to you a
- 16:52Speaker 1: little bit. I wish we had more time. There's so
- 16:56Speaker 1: many more questions I want.
- 16:58Speaker 2: I don't come back anytime.
- 16:59Speaker 1: Oh love love to have you back.
- 17:01Speaker 2: Have Nick come back and talk to you.
- 17:02Speaker 1: Oh that would be fun. Yes, Oh I'd love to
- 17:05Speaker 1: meet him. Yeah, that'd be great. Sure, yes, love it absolutely,
- 17:08Speaker 1: yeah with him. What you said, Oh great, thank you? Yes, yes, good, good,
- 17:12Speaker 1: good good. Yeah. Anyway, it's been a pleasure. Good luck
- 17:16Speaker 1: with uh Sweet Magnolias on an epic four year run
- 17:21Speaker 1: and counting, and all the best to you and your family,
- 17:26Speaker 1: and good luck with your your blog, the Happy Place
- 17:30Speaker 1: and all that you're doing, all the productions that you're producing.
- 17:34Speaker 1: And man, you're you are a busy, busy lady. I'll
- 17:38Speaker 1: tell you that much. And it's good good to be busy,
- 17:40Speaker 1: isn't it.
- 17:41Speaker 2: Grateful?
- 17:41Speaker 3: Thank you and it was just such a breath of
- 17:43Speaker 3: fresh air. So I really great to talk to you.
- 17:46Speaker 1: Good talking to you too, and we'll hopefully see you
- 17:49Speaker 1: real soon.
- 17:50Speaker 2: Let's do it all right, all right.
- 17:52Speaker 1: Take care Joanna. That's Joanna Garcia Swisher. Everybody love talking
- 17:57Speaker 1: to her. She'll be back for a future episode. I
- 18:01Speaker 1: am sure, all right, We will see you next time.
- 18:03Speaker 1: Best fans on the planet. Thank you all so much
- 18:06Speaker 1: for your downloads. Remember where you lead, we will follow.
- 18:09Speaker 4: Stay safe everyone, everybody, and don't forget.
- 18:40Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
- 18:44Speaker 1: and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.