{"id":5981,"date":"2015-03-26T09:52:40","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T15:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=5981"},"modified":"2015-03-27T08:52:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T14:52:52","slug":"off-to-tuscany-well-earned-break-for-serial-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/03\/off-to-tuscany-well-earned-break-for-serial-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to Tuscany: Well-earned break for ‘serial entrepreneur’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joanie\"<\/a>

Stella Fong<\/p>

Joanie Swords in front of her cafe and bakery, holding two of the books that inspired her decision to spend at least a month in Tuscany this fall.<\/p><\/div>\n

Joanie Swords is dreaming of Italy. In the fall, she will seek out the discoveries that author Frances Mayes writes about in her book, \u201cUnder the Tuscan Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Harper & Madison, the cafe, bakery and market that she has \u201cput her heart and soul into,\u201d enters its fourth year, she can trust her staff to operate the business while she\u2019s away.<\/p>\n

Named after her two children and located in the hospital corridor, Harper & Madison has become a popular gathering place. Lines queuing for the offerings of paninis and salads often go out the door during the lunch hour.<\/p>\n

In the summer, Swords, her executive chef Shane Weigel and Lilac executive chef Jeremy Engebretson offer al fresco farm-to-table dinners. A long table lines the middle of the street in front of the cafe where dozens of diners partake of multi-course meals. Then, for post-feasting entertainment, Swords has lent her voice to accompany Marion Booth Green in a few jazzy tunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people have a dream, and mine is to be gone at least a month,\u201d Swords said. Taking cooking lessons for a week and then working in a bed and breakfast or farm are currently on her wish list.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have many plans,\u201d she said. \u201cI like traveling alone. As I get older, it is easier to let our world get smaller. We get too comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Swords wants to experience the amazement Mayes describes in her book\u2014the vibrant markets, lush vineyards and the spiritual revelation of preparing food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole trip is based on romance: the romance of cooking, the romance of a foreign place, and the romance of being an adventurer,\u201d Swords said. \u201cIt is the romance of communicating in another language.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is another reason for the trip, which Swords confessed to with a sheepish grin and innocence in her eyes.<\/p>\n

\"Shane\"<\/a>

Stella Fong<\/p>

Shane Weigel is the executive chef at Harper & Madison.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLately I have been feeling like a fraud,\u201d she said. \u201cI cannot cook. When people say my food is good, I tell them I\u2019m fortunate to have a good staff.\u201d Weigel, who has been with Harper & Madison since its inception, oversees the creation of all the savory offerings while Swords nurtures the baking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to come clean,\u201d Swords admitted. \u201cThis cooking thing is really bugging me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And although she really wants to learn how to cook, she also admitted a distaste for a key ingredient in Italian cooking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an aversion to garlic,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they\u2019re cooking it in the kitchen I sometimes have to go into the walk-in refrigerator, but I love onions and shallots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swords said Harper, her 18-year-old son, \u201ccan cook better than I can.\u201d And she said her daughter Madison likes to say her mother can make only four things: roast chicken, spaghetti, tacos and toast.<\/p>\n

Swords elaborated, \u201cThere is a right way of making toast. You have to wait to butter the toast. If you butter it too soon, it becomes soggy.\u201d She also asserted that the optimal cinnamon toast requires two parts sugar to one part cinnamon. In the future, toast with jam may be an offering on the chalkboard menu.<\/p>\n

A customer once described Swords as a \u201cserial entrepreneur,\u201d and she takes it as a compliment. In addition to Harper & Madison, she previously opened Poet Street Market and Dancing Ovens.<\/p>\n

The success of the three endeavors can be attributed to her willingness learn. Her baking skills are self-taught. She took a crash course from the kitchen manager at Le Petite Cafe, and Mark Kennedy allowed her to work every position at his Bert & Ernie\u2019s Restaurant. Both of those businesses\u00a0used to be in downtown Billings.<\/p>\n

\"Customer\"<\/a>

Stella Fong<\/p>

A customer waits to place an order under Harper & Madison’s colorful chalkboard menus.<\/p><\/div>\n

Swords did take one detour off the baking path 10 years ago, when she enrolled in the nursing program at Rocky Mountain College in hopes of becoming a pediatric oncology nurse, only to discover \u201cI was not happy as a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a different way, Swords practices her nursing skills at Harper & Madison, where customers come for nourishment and healing conversation. The well-lit space accented by farmhouse d\u00e9cor is a place of respite and calm.<\/p>\n

Her four-layer coconut cake, red velvet cupcakes, or asparagus sundried tomato quiche provide palliative medicine. People gather there for the atmosphere as well as the tasty food, and Swords is usually in the front of the house, unobtrusively greeting customers as she collects dishes and cups, her presence part of the homey ambiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo walk into Harper and Madison is to be enveloped in a warm, friendly embrace,\u201d said Amy Brown, a regular customer. \u201cJoanie Swords has enlivened our quiet neighborhood with her sweet temptations and savory delights.\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as Swords enjoys what she does, she also knows the value of stepping back for a while, and hence the trip to Tuscany this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to stay positive about a restaurant,\u201d she said, \u201cyou need to take breaks to remember what it is was that took you there in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details<\/strong>: Harper & Madison,\u00a03115 10th Ave. N., Billings
\nPhone: 406-281-8550.\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanie Swords is dreaming of Italy. In the fall, she will seek out the discoveries that author Frances Mayes writes about in her book, \u201cUnder the Tuscan Sun.\u201d As Harper & Madison, the cafe, bakery and market that she has \u201cput her heart and soul into,\u201d enters its fourth year, she can trust her staff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":5982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[2263,1564,2262,2260,647,1287,2264,2261],"class_list":["post-5981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-diversions","tag-frances-mayes","tag-harper-madison","tag-jeremy-engebretson","tag-joanie-swords","tag-lilac","tag-mark-kennedy","tag-poet-street-market","tag-shane-weigel","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}