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October14
Terri-Anne is fromAustralia, and it was
coincidentally an Aussie architect who
renovated the house. Among its features
is an open and airy kitchen, ideal for this
cooking enthusiast. “I love to leave the
front and back doors open, so the kids
can run through while I’m cooking; it
works well for all of us.”
Spread across three levels, the house
has a light and spacious ground floor
with kitchen, living and dining rooms.
“This downstairs space is great for
dinner parties; with the children tucked
up in bed, we can be as loud as we want
without disturbing them. The outdoor
area has a barbecue, and it’s nice to sit
outside in the cooler months,” she says.
The middle level has an open-plan
family area, the twins’ bedroom and the
master bedroom. On the third level are
another two bedrooms and a helper’s
room. “Relocating to a house was
important to help me feel settled, and
to rid myself of that temporary, itinerant
sentiment I felt while living in the condo,”
she says.
Terri-Anne and her stockbroker
husband Tom moved to Singapore in
2012. It was a challenging time. “We
married, found out we were pregnant
on the last day of our honeymoon in
Paris, and moved to Singapore within
the space of about six months. I was
20 weeks pregnant when we arrived
here from Port Melbourne, and we only
viewed Singapore as a short two-year
stay,” she says.
“The twins were born nine weeks
early, and at the same time I was
adjusting to life in a new country
and culture, I’d left my career, and I
was trying to make friends. But since
overcoming those early challenges
we’ve established friends, revelled in
the travel opportunities and decided
to stay on longer. We’ve seen the great
benefits of living here and are really
taking advantage of them now,” she
says, nominating travel, domestic help
and the children’s education as three
major pluses.
Last year, she launched her
blog, Carrotsticks and Cravings, an
expression of her love for cooking
and writing recipes. “I needed to do
something that didn’t revolve around my
marriage and my kids. It’s something for
me
– especially now the kids are a bit
bigger and sleeping better. I also wanted
something to show for my time here,
and I hope people get some inspiration
from it.”
Terri-Anne learnt to cook from
her talented mother in Bermagui, a
picturesque town on the South Coast
of New South Wales where she grew
up. It’s clear she has taken the baton
and run with it. For the twins’ second
birthday, Terri-Anne baked a total of
eight cakes to create a train for Eli, and
a tiered princess cake for Olivia. But
despite this diligence and creativity, she
admits that making a good pavlova in
Singapore is still a challenge on account
of the humidity.
She’s also keen to pass on the
cooking impulse to her kids; during
this pregnancy, she has found herself in
the kitchen constantly. “Now the twins
are two, they are beginning to show an
interest in my cooking. And because
the kitchen is open, they can help with
mixing and measuring. I hope they can
learn from me.”
Terri-Anne favours classic
black-and-white, and in the
living area she has grouped
a Domicil sofa with single
white chairs by Camerich.
The distinctive lamp is by
Kare from Le Article, and
the framed Hermes scarf
was a gift from Tom. “I tend
not to wear scarves, but it’s
beautiful, so I thought, why
not show it off in a frame.”