Join us for a very special Bookoccino evening with Leigh Sales and Gwen Blake's sharing their new book featuring mouth-watering recipes that promise to ease the mental load of cooking on holidays and at home.

Tickets include a welcome drink and an assortment of delicious canapés prepared by Moby's Whale Beach.

Packed with the hard-won wisdom of decades spent cooking for family and friends, two of Australia’s best-organised women share their most delicious recipes with tips on how to cut corners, minimise work and maximise taste and fun while on holidays. The sensible, practical and unfussy philosophy of Leigh Sales and Gwen Blake will look after your wellbeing and protect your downtime at home or on vacation, with dozens of answers to the perennial question, ‘What’s for dinner?’

From ‘double down’ recipes that create two separate meals, to ‘half-baked’ dishes that get as much prep as possible done before leaving home, to ‘fridge clear-outs’ that make the best of what you have on hand, Gwen and Leigh do all the thinking and organising for you. Coming up with ideas for economical meals and how to stretch them further is one thing you can tick off your never-ending To Do list.

Inside you’ll find an incredible array of recipes that ensure cooking for friends and family feels like a joy, not a job. Radiating common sense and warmth, Gwen and Leigh are the friends we all need – they’ve got you sorted!

Leigh Sales AM, the anchor of ABC-TV’s Australian Story, is one of the country’s most recognised and respected journalists. From 2011 to 2022, she presented the ABC’s flagship evening current affairs program, 7.30, as well as being the face of major news coverage for the network, including federal elections and budget nights. She has been a foreign correspondent based in Washington DC, covered various rounds including national security and politics, and worked for TV, radio, print and digital.

She is the author of five books: Detainee 002: The Case of David Hicks (2007), On Doubt (2009), Well Hello (2021), the national bestseller Any Ordinary Day (2018) and her latest work Storytellers: Questions, Answers & the Craft of Journalism (2023).

Leigh co-hosts a wildly popular podcast called Chat 10, Looks 3 with her friend Annabel Crabb. It attracts hundreds of thousands of downloads each month, performs sell-out live shows around Australia and covers subjects ranging from arts and culture to friendship and grief.

Leigh also anchors the popular ABC TV program The Assembly, in which she mentors a group of autistic journalism trainees, helping them interview well-known Australians.

Leigh has been decorated with many honours, including three Walkley awards for journalism and an Order of Australia for her public service. She has also been awarded two honorary doctorates - from the Queensland University of Technology and Edith Cowan University - in recognition of her achievements in journalism.

She is the mother of two sons.

Gwen Blake is the Founder and Director of Boxer & Co, an award-winning branding and packaging design agency based in Sydney. For seventeen years, she has worked with some of the retail industry's biggest names, including Woolworths, Nestle and Kraft Heinz. Gwen also produces merchandise for Chat 10 Looks 3, the widly popular podcast hosted by Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb.

Leigh Sales + Gwen Blake: The Holiday Kitchen

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Single Ticket includes welcome drink and canapes ticket

Book: The Holiday Kitchen ticket