Simple delights and comfort food in my apartment during pandemic

I love sardines, especially those buried in olive oil where I can throw in a pinch of pepper.

I think it is one reason why I love going to places like Cathay View Plaza on bus number 696 to scour the market there for the canned stuff.

My favorite would be Spanish or Portuguese sardines. Those from countries like Denmark are also pretty good.

When I was about 10, I was enrolled in a boarding school in Quezon City, the Philippines.

I was in the 5th grade and we would be sleeping in a dorm full of other boys.

My locker would be stocked with sardines or corn beef.

The food is cheap and readily available.

I would crack open the sardines and throw it in with rice, mix them all up and start eating with sheer abandon.

I still love doing that even in Beijing. Just for memories' sake, I would eat the concoction with my hands.

I make sure there is some fish sauce in a small cup as a dip. The sauce is called patis in Manila. It is enough for dinner and I can easily wolf it all down.

I suppose you need to get imaginative when one is stuck at home because of a virus that seemingly shows no sign of going away.

Several of my weekends have been spent looking for such simple fare.

What my wife and I have also done is turn the sardines or tuna into a really nice spread.

My wife would sprinkle in some mayo and crushed olive bits, and then store it overnight in the fridge to chill.

We would then have some saltines or garlic crackers for the spread. We would also air fry some meatballs, have a bottle of sweet Chinese wine and make an evening of it.

We normally do this on a Friday after the last of the work is done and wouldn't mind sleeping in to get over any possible hangover.

When we got to China last year, the plan was to go around the country to go on foodie trips.

The first sojourn was to Tianjin, but the virus shut down the country and there are still restrictions in place even if some areas have begun to open up.

Our initial plan was to find our way to Shanghai and maybe go to Yunnan province. Those trips are now on hold indefinitely.

Pinned in Beijing, we discovered ways to experiment on our palates.

The family also loves cheese, the smellier the better.

That is where Gruyere comes in, which for lack of a better way to explain it, reeks of unwashed feet.

The cheese is named after a Swiss village. It is an unpasteurized block of cheese that is mildly smelly and has a slight grainy texture.

Most of the time, Gruyere is used in combination with other cheeses on a platter.

I like eating it like potato chips while watching some games or taking in old situation comedies on TV.I would put my feet up on a chair inside an air conditioned room.

There are days, and they have come a lot during the virus lockdown, when nothing beats the sheer pleasure of doing nothing on a blazingly hot and humid afternoon.

Having a sardine spread on salted crackers fits the bill along with a Coke Zero. Simple pleasures indeed.