After returning from Ashburton, I had a week-long craving for Filipino food even if I had my fill of it.

After unpacking bottles of bagoong na alamang and packets of instant Papaitan mix (bought in a Filipino store in Ashburton), I set about buying pork belly, and beef offal like tripe and stomach. I also bought a packet of a dozen Vigan-style longganisa made by a local producer- Nanay Nelly- in Auckland

I made something of a cross between binagoongang baboy and pakbet (minus most of the usual vegetables save for an aubergine that cost $6). In lieu of atchara, I had kimchi.

For a week I ate like a king who ruled his kingdom with absolute power; no one dared to point out the obvious.