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