"Are you going to buy this octopus, Auntie?" asked Marra of the woman across the table from her at the fish market. Still, it was almost empty by the time late afternoon reigned supreme, and it was raining so hard outside that every drop that hit the roof of the traditional fish market in that corner of Manila was like a drum beating in unison.

"Of course, even though I'm craving pinangat right now, I miss my hometown. It's been so long since I've been back there, and I can only feel it through pinangat." The woman with short hair was dreamy.

Marra smiled faintly as she put some medium-sized...