An illustration of a brown donut buddy with a cream glazing on top of its head, standing behind a slice of pie with its hands on the edges. Its cheeks are full and a tiny bite can be seen on the side of the pie.

About buko pie (also: Filipino coconut pie) History: While "pie" isn't new, the story of buko pie is relatively recent (from the 1960s)! It's an interesting story of the Pahud sisters who introduced buko pie to the Philippines in the Laguna province after one returned from studying abroad in the U.S. and opened a local bakeshop. My memories as a Filipino-American: Buko pie was not a common treat for me growing up. When I think of pie, I mainly remember the holidays and my mom making pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Have I had buko pie? Not in my recent memory, if ever, but I also don't seek out pie often. So if anyone has ny recommendations on where they like getting some, let me know!

Belated final flavor for #Donutober x #FAHM: Buko Pie 🥥🥧

An illustration of a plain donut buddy smiling with its mouth open, while it rests one hand on an upright slice of meatloaf. Behind it is the whole meatloaf log, with the end cut to show the cross section. Inside the meatloaf are bits of hardboiled egg, sausage, pickles, carrots, and raisins.

About embutido (also: embotido). History: A kind of meatloaf, this meaty dish came to be when meatloaf was introduced to the Philippines during the U.S. colonization in the early 1900s. My memories as a Filipino-American: I loved when my mom made embutido. I knew it was happening when she bought ground meat, pulled out cans of vienna sausages, and the foil. My mom made it with ground beef (most of the time) mixed with chopped up carrot bits and raisins, and rolled up with hardboiled egg, vienna sausages (which I really really really liked as a kid), and baby pickles. I'd pour ketchup over it and eat mouthfuls of rice with these slices.

An illustration of a donut buddy sitting down, licking its lips, and holding its hand up to an open half of a dragon fruit with white insides. Its head is glazed pink with a slice of dragon fruit on top.

About dragon fruit (also: pitaya, pitahaya, or strawberry pear). History: Native to the Americas (Central and South mainly), dragon fruit was brought to the Philippines during Spanish colonization in the 16th century. My memories as a Filipino-American: I don't remember trying or even seeing dragon fruit as a kid, but as an adult, I had a taste of dragon fruit in smoothies and smoothie bowls. Having the actual fruit was just as delicious as I imagined. The first time I had it was the red variety in Hawaii, and not only was it tasty, it was pretty on the inside: a super vivid pink. Dragon fruit is up there on my list of favorite fruits (along with mango, melon, and pear).

#Donutober x #FAHM:

Flavor 29: Embutido 🍖
Flavor 30: Dragon Fruit 🐉

An illustration of a plain brown donut buddy sitting on top of a mound of garlic fried rice. At the base of the mound are a couple slices of hard boiled egg and some garlic cloves and bits of garlic.

About garlic fried rice (also: sinangag or just "garlic rice"). History: Commonly served with Filipino breakfasts (think: tosilog, longsilog, bangsilog, etc.), garlic fried rice was influenced by Chinese methods of frying up leftover rice and Spanish colonization. My memories as a Filipino-American: We definitely ate a lot of steamed white rice at home, but I wouldn't say garlic fried rice was a staple in our house. My mom occasionally made fried rice with leftover rice, but it wasn't specifically garlic fried rice. It typically had peas, corn, carrots, scrambled eggs, and sometimes baby shrimp. As an adult, I do appreciate a good scoop of garlic fried rice when I go to Filipino restaurants, though!

An illustration of a plain brown donut buddy with its eyes tightly shut behind half of an open marang, holding on to its edges. The marang is similar to a jackfruit with a spiky but blunt outside and pieces of white fruit inside.

About marang (also: tarap or terap, similar to jackfruit + breadfruit). History: Introduced to the Philippines via Borneo, this tropical fruit is now known to be grown in Mindanao in the Philippines (among other Southeast Asian countries). My memories as a Filipino-American: I've had both jackfruit and breadfruit, but not marang, so I'd be interested in trying it for sure! As a kid, smelly foods, especially smelly fruits, were offputting, but I've gotten around that a bit as an adult (I do like durian). I've heard that marang can smell like gasoline, which is weird to think about when thinking about related fruits like jackfruit, but I'm still curious.

More #Donutober x #FAHM catchup:

Flavor 27: Garlic Fried Rice 🧄🍚
Flavor 28: Marang 💛🤍

An illustration of a dark brown donut buddy topped with a purple ube frosting and some grated and toasted coconut, sitting with its eyes closed and belly full, on top of a few logs of steamed ube rice cakes on top of a banana leaf piece.

About puto bumbong (also misspelled as: puto bungbong, puto bongbong). History: Another steamed rice cake, this is named after bamboo tubes (bumbong/bombong) in which they were traditionally steamed, this dessert is typically served during the holiday season, especially at churches during the novena leading up to Christmas. My memories as a Filipino-American: I don't have a lot of memories of puto bumbong specifically, mostly because I think of puto puti when I imagine Filipino steamed rice cakes. I also didn't care much for ube as a kid, so they might have been out during the holidays and I just never noticed them or ate them. I'd probably have some now though!

An illustration of a donut buddy licking its lips and glazed with condensed milk, holding a bread roll in its hand and standing behind a group of five more bread rolls.

About pandesal (also: pan de sal as three separate words or pandisal with an I). History: Bread has been a staple across cultural cuisines, though it wasn't until the 1900s during American colonization that pandesal, the dinner rolls of the Philippines, took off, due to wheat from the U.S. being much more accessible. My memories as a Filipino-American: These soft, fluffy carbs were so easy to scarf down as a kid. My mom always got a bag of smooth, almost shiny ones, though occasionally we had the ones with more crumbs on top. My fondest memory of eating pandesal was having my mom cut them open, putting them in the toaster or oven for a little bit, then drizzling condensed milk all over them. A simple but very satisfying snack!

More #Donutober x #FAHM catchup:

Flavor 25: Puto Bumbong 💜
Flavor 26: Pandesal 🍞

An illustration of a little brown donut buddy with its arms raised and mouth smiling wide open, topped with a brown sugary glaze and some sago pearls on top of its head. It stands a little behind a large pitcher of a somewhat translucent brown drink with cubed jellies and sago pearls floating in the drink.

About sago't gulaman (also: sago at gulaman or sago gulaman). History: A simple pre-colonial recipe for a super refreshing drink, this sugar + water + pearl + jelly type drink is a staple in Filipino culture and cuisine. My memories as a Filipino-American: Whenever my mom pulled out the gulaman bars (dried agar) from the pantry, I got excited at the thought of pouring the resulting sugary drink into my system. Usually reserved for parties or on especially hot summer days, sago (and gulaman) was my first love when it comes to chewy pearl drinks. Occasionally, my mom would add some banana extract to the mix for an extra dose of flavor (though she initially denied doing this).

An illustration of a donut buddy, eyes tightly shut and smiling, with a red frosting, hugging the top of a banana ketchup bottle.

About banana ketchup (also: banana sauce). History: Dyed red to look like regular ketchup, banana ketchup was made in the Philippines due to a lack of tomatoes during World War 2. My memories as a Filipino-American: We actually didn't really keep banana ketchup in the house, as I was already always dumping regular ketchup or sweet and sour sauce on my food as far as red bottled sauces went. I never really saw the appeal as it didn't taste much different to me from regular ketchup, so even now as an adult, I haven't really gone out of my way to get banana ketchup since I don't even really use ketchup that much anymore in general. Mang Thomas on the other hand, now that's a sauce I'm down with.

Lots of #Donutober x #FAHM catchup this week because *life*.

Flavor 23: Sago't Gulaman 🤎
Flavor 24: Banana Ketchup 🍌

An illustration of a brown donut buddy, eyes shut tight in excitement, while actively munching on a large golden fritter in front of it. Around it are a couple small dipping sauce dishes of vinegar with garlic bits and green onion and another with ketchup. Julienned carrots, green onion bits, and bean sprouts are scattered on the ground.

About okoy (also: ukoy, pronounced "oo-coy"). History: While fritters or crispy fried pancakes are not unique to the Philippines, these deep fried snacks are said to have originated in the province of Laguna, possibly influenced by the Hokkien okue. My memories as a Filipino-American: Okoy was one of the few ways my mom could get more vegetables into my system as a kid. A mish-mash of various ingredients, my mom usually made it with bean sprouts (which I didn't really like eating otherwise, carrots, onions, and kamote (sweet potato), sometimes with baby shrimp sprinkled in. I loved these crunchy savory fritters and had fun dipping them in various sauces, from a vinegar-y mix to ketchup to whatever else was available.

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 22: Okoy 🦐🥕🧅

(Could really go for some rn.)

An illustration of a donut buddy with a brownish soy sauce glaze licking its lips. It's holding a fork that is piercing through a thin piece of cooked steak that is also laying on top of its head almost like an umbrella. There's onion rings by its feet and one on top of the steak.

About bistek (also: bistek tagalog, bistik, beef steak, karne frita). History: While there are many variations of steak-and-onions, the balance of salty and sour taste was localized by using calamansi as part of the marinade. Modern versions have also been made with pork, chicken, fish, or tofu. My memories as a Filipino-American: I loved bistek growing up. As a kid who didn't eat much, the caramelized onions my mom topped the beef with were so good with each saucy spoonful of rice. While bistek is known for its thinly sliced up pieces, my mom usually kept the steaks whole for each of us. I knew she was making bistek when I heard the pounding and tenderizing of the beef steaks, and I'd start impatiently waiting for dinner.

An illustration of a donut buddy with its mouth wide open, topped with sugar, holding a cream-colored log also topped with sugar. By its feet are colorfully wrapped candies in blue, green, purple and pink.

About pastillas de leche (also: pastillas or pastiyema) History: From the province of Bulacan in the Philippines, this creamy candy made its way to many other provinces. Influenced by the Spanish colonization's dairy-making processes, Bulacan farmers used local milk (from water buffalos) and adapted it to Filipino tastes with calamansi. My memories as a Filipino-American: Another treat my mom occasionally picked up from the local Filipino market, when I saw her put packages of the colorfully wrapped sweets, I knew I'd have a little taste. We typically only got the soft ones and sometimes pastillas de casoy (ones with cashews) or pastillas de pili (ones with pili nuts).

#Donutober x #FAHM:

Flavor 20: Bistek 🥩🧅
Flavor 21: Pastillas de Leche 🍬🥛

An illustration of a cute donut buddy with its eyes shut tight, licking its lips while holding a piece of tocino. It's topped with a shiny red glaze and a few more pieces of tocino, while sitting on a slice of cucumber. It is surrounded by a couple slices of tomato, a fried egg, and more pieces of tocino.

About tocino (meaning "bacon" in Spanish). History: Unsurprisingly introduced to the Philippines during Spanish colonization, Filipino tocino was localized and differs slightly from Spanish tocino by being iconically salty, sweet, and a bit tart. My memories as a Filipino-American: Surprisingly, I did not prefer tocino as much as a kid because sometimes it was just too sticky and sweet (I know, right?). When it came to savory-yet-sweet pork, I always wanted longanisa instead. Occasionally, a good tosilog will hit the spot, but I still don't go out of my way for tocino. It's absolutely delicious, don't get me wrong, though these days when I crave pork belly, I'm usually headed out to KBBQ.

An illustration of a cute brown donut buddy hugging the top of a tall glass that's filled with a yellow mango smoothie with a couple mint leaves. It's glazed with some of the smoothie and a couple cubes of mango. A whole mango sits by the base of the glass.

About mango smoothies (can be combined with other tropical fruits!). History: The national fruit of the Philippines came to the islands from other Southeast (Malaysia) and South Asian (India) countries before Spanish colonization. My memories as a Filipino-American: Smoothies were a staple growing up once we got a blender, but prior to making thick drinks, a half of mango scored in squares was always my dessert after I finished dinner. Additionally, we also cut up mango and topped halo halo with it. When I started experimenting with smoothies as a kid, my go-to additions were always ice cream and bananas. Both went super well with mango blended up with ice, of course.

#Donutober x #FAHM catchup:

Flavor 18: Tocino 🥓
Flavor 19: Mango Smoothie 🥭

An illustration of a brown donut buddy sitting in a somewhat meditative pose with its chubby hands and feet together in front of it. It's sitting on a pillow of palitaw topped with shredded coconut and sesame seeds. Another padding of palitaw rests gently across the top of its head.

About palitaw (also: from Tagalog word "litaw" or to "float"). History: Another classic "kakanin", this sticky rice treat is said to have originated in pre-colonial northern Luzon as a communal activity and way to use up rice harvests into a lasting snack. My memories as a Filipino-American: My mom didn't get this much (or at least I don't have memories of palitaw in abundance), but I always liked trying soft, chewy sweets from the Filipino market (especially kutsinta). I don't think I've had many (or any) sticky rice snacks I didn't like, and palitaw was no exception. As with other kakanin, it went along with tasty toppings: grated coconut and sesame seeds. Although messy, things topped with grated coconut were always fun to stuff my tummy with.

An illustration of a cute donut buddy holding up a slice of starfruit above its head. Behind it is a whole starfruit and leaning on it is another slice - both slices in the shape of a thick star.

About balimbing (also: star fruit or carambola). History: Native to tropical environments in Southeast Asia, star fruit has spread to other areas and may be considered an invasive species in other regions. In the Philippines, "balimbing" has been used to describe disloyal people in political discourse. My memories as a Filipino-American: I don't actually think I tried star fruit until I visited Hawaii as an adult. My partner and I went to a local market and bought a bunch of tropical fruits that either we hadn't tried or found around home and star fruit was one of them. As with most fruit we tried, it was tasty. Fictionally, however, I have planted them while playing Stardew Valley!

#Donutober x #FAHM catchup:

Flavor 16: Palitaw 🍚🥥
Flavor 17: Balimbing ⭐

A cute illustration of a donut buddy topped with a dark soy sauce glaze, carrying a cooked chicken drumstick in its hands above its head ready to throw it into a small pot. Around the pot are various ingredients from a bay leaf, garlic, and green onions.

About chicken adobo (from the Spanish verb adobar or to marinate). History: The method of cooking this dish with vinegar and salt (with bay leaves and peppercorns) existed in pre-colonial Philippines, long before the Spanish arrived in the late 1600s (and called it adobo). My memories as a Filipino-American: I preferred chicken over pork adobo growing up (I honestly don't know why, might have been a texture thing), and savored the sweet-and-sour flavor. These days I'll take the vinegary flavor on a variety of things including tofu (adobong tokwa) or even squid (adobong pusit). Filipino adobo is stamped so strongly in my heart, I have a hard time enjoying Latine or Spanish versions as much (though I admit, they can be delicious, too). It's just not the same!

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 6: Chicken Adobo 🍗🧄🧅

A cute illustration of a donut buddy with a shiny yellow glaze, topped with a slice of calamansi and a few leaves. It's sitting next to a tall glass of light yellow soda with a couple ice cubes in it with a few more calamansi fruit on the ground around the bottom.

About calamansi (also Philippine lime). History: Native to the Philippines and across parts of Southeast and East Asia, this tiny citrus is a hybrid of other citrus (namely kumquat and maybe mandarin oranges). My memories as a Filipino-American: I found these cute little lemon-lime-like fruits in the fridge one day and I saw my mom use them in a variety of things (water, drinks, garnish for pancit instead of lemon sometimes). My mom bought enough one time to make juice and we were lucky to have such a sweet bunch, because the resulting drink was so refreshing, especially during the summer. I'm now jealous my brother has a calamansi tree in his backyard.

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 5: Calamansi 🍋💦

A cute illustration of a donut buddy winking and sticking its tongue out wrapped up in a dress of noodles. It's topped with an orange shrimp sauce, with a shrimp on its head and sprinkled with green onion and crushed up chicharron bits. Along the base of the noodle dress are calamansi and a few wedges of hard boiled egg.

About pancit palabok (also pansit with an "S"). History: While noodle dishes existed in pre-colonial Philippines, Spanish colonization brought Chinese immigrants. Chinese noodle-making techniques were introduced, evolving with local ingredients. My memories as a Filipino-American: I'll never find palabok at a restaurant the same way my mom made it: with thick, slippery noodles and topped with canned oysters along with the blend of other flavors. Another dish I looked forward to and usually only made for gatherings or celebrations, I always preferred pancit palabok over pancit bihon or canton. It might have been the baby oysters my mom added, which I still love eating to this day (with or without noodles).

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 4: Pancit Palabok 🦐🥚🍽️

A cute illustration of a donut buddy with a creamy light yellow frosting topped with grated cheese and corn kernels, standing on a block of cheddar cheese and saluting a two-scoop cone of mais queso ice cream.

About mais queso (also mais con queso or keso with a k). History: Ice cream shops entered the Philippines in the 1900s after the U.S. occupied the islands; importing cheddar cheese became popular after World War 2 and soon topped a variety of dishes and sweets. My memories as a Filipino-American: My mom didn't always tell me what was in particular foods, probably so that I'd be open to trying it first before knocking it (like diniguan, which I do like). And how could I say no to some Magnolia ice cream? Trying the cheesy ice cream with hard bits of frozen corn was new and interesting, but I liked it immediately. The texture and the taste wasn't like the smooth avocado or chocolate ice cream I usually craved, and it became a new favorite.

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 3: Mais Queso Ice Cream 🍦🌽🧀

A cute illustration of little donut buddy with its eyes closed, mouth open drooling sitting on a scoop of rice and a fried egg on its head. It is holding a link of four longanisa sausages. A couple more longanisa and tomato wedges surround the rice.

About longanisa (also longganisa with two "G"s or with a "Z" instead of "S"). History: these deliciously sweet snappy sausages perfectly paired with garlic rice, tomato slices, and a fried egg were introduced to the islands when Spain colonized the Philippines in the mid-1500s. My memories as a Filipino-American: I was a really picky eater when I was a kid, but longanisa was one of the foods I really looked forward to when the sweet-and-savory smells reached my nose from the kitchen and the exciting sizzles tickled my ears. The mouth-watering meal was a rare occasion of me shoving big spoonfuls of food into my mouth, getting more nutrients than an average night, alternating with bites of tomato, and finishing off with mango as a dessert.

#Donutober x #FAHM Flavor 2: Longanisa

A cute illustration of little donut buddy inside a tall glass, hanging on to the edge with a spoon. The glass is filled with shaved ice and various fillings to make a mixed drink dessert full of purple ube, mango, ice cream, red beans, red and green jellies. It's also topped with coconut shavings and green pandan jelly cubes and red beans. At the base of the glass is some flan and spilled beans.

#Drawtober / #Donutober flavor 1: halo halo 🍹

A donut buddy with a sikhye glaze with its eyes excitedly shut and mouth wide open as it climbs a pitcher of the rice punch. A wooden spoon is in the pitcher and grains of rice surround the pitcher.

A little donut buddy with latik glaze, a syrupy coconut topping, carrying a handful of mini kutsinta and gladly munching on one with their eyes closed and smiling with one hand in front of their mouth. They're surrounded by stacks of kutsinta, orange, yellow, green, and purple, some topped with mounds of shredded coconut and another stack topped with more latik.

More #Donutober catchup!

Flavor 5: Sikhye
Flavor 6: Kutsinta

🍚🥥🧡

A brown super excited donut buddy with big sparkly eyes and its mouth wide open, wearing an espresso portafilter like a cap and standing next to a to-go gup with iced americano and coffee beans scattered on the ground.

A little toasted donut buddy sleeping on a freshly baked bibingka cake wrapped in banana leaves. The donut buddy and bibingka are sprinkled with shredded cheese with a slice of a hard boiled salted egg is on the side.

#Drawtober / #Donutober catchup!

Flavor 3: Iced Americano
Flavor 4: Bibingka (with shredded cheese and salted egg)

🧊☕️🧀

Illustrated donut buddy with a toasted brown base and purple frosting sitting on a stack of ube hopia holding a staff topped with hopia and surrounded by more of the pastry. They have a cute little mischievous smile on their face.

#Drawtober / #Donutober flavor 2: ube hopia 🍠💜

A cute illustrations of little donut buddy hugging and basically dancing with a container of banana flavored milk, surrounded by a banana, banana slices, and music notes.

#Drawtober / #Donutober flavor 1: banana milk 🍌🥛🍩

A list of 31 flavors on a light brown, caramel-ish background and three donuts with pink, brown, and cream frosting with rainbow sprinkles. The 31 flavors listed for each day are: banana milk, ube hopia, iced americano, bibingka, sihkye, kutsinta, baked goguma, ginataang mais, dalgona candy, buko pandan, strawberry, leche flan, sweet red bean soup, taho, makgeolli, turon, injeolmi, cassave cake and macapuno, neapolitan ice cream, mamon, champorado, hotteok, karioka, yakgwa (honey cookies), biko, hwachae (fruit punch), gunataang bilo-bilo, steamed pears, avocado milkshake, peanut brittle, and persimmon.

How is September already over? I lost all my previous #Donutober files when my computer crashed last October, so here's to a new #Drawtober set. I've sprinkled in Filipino flavors for #FAHM, too!

Let's see if I can get through #31Flavors this time. Any you're looking forward to? 🍩