Our office flooded today! Or well, the building in which our office resides on the 2nd floor flooded today. Saying ‘our office’ adds a nice dramatic touch, which is always a good thing. Right?

There was a monsoon going on in Amsterdam. Or well, technically it might not have been a monsoon as we’re not in a tropical climate and there probably are all sorts of rules about when rain becomes monsoon which Dutch rain doesn’t adhere to. But still. There was a monsoon in Amsterdam. And then our office flooded.

Apparently some gutter hadn’t been cleaned very well and many, many, many gallons of water poured through whatever it poured through. In the collective hallway/staircase which also houses the elevator bucketloads of water coninuously poured from a ceiling lamp. I’m not kidding or exaggerating here. The weird thing was, the lamp didn’t break, it didn’t turn off, which actually meant it was kind of dangerous and we called the fire department.

The fire department was very busy. We weren’t the only building that was flooding.

The post office underneath our office received tons of water from another source and had to close.

And when I walked out to buy a sandwich for lunch, the record store across the street from ‘Het Kuyltje’ had flooded as well. And the shoe store next to it didn’t have the really really cute sandals in my size anymore. But that’s a whole other story, very much unrelated to the flood.

When I left the office to go home, it rained yet again. Once  I got off the tram another monsoon had started. So I walked through the monsoon, was soaked to the bones, took a nice hot shower and settled in front of the TV to watch the elections.

We ate barbeque sausages from the grill pan, as that’s what I had in the fridge. I also made some biscuits and had a hard time deciding on a vegetable. L had placed the veggies in the fridge after shopping Sunday, which place my little gem lettuce somewhere else than I expected. I had totally forgotten about them. So I decided to use them for my veggie. And to grill them. I think I saw a picture of grilled baby lettuce somewhere before and it looked yummy. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

I’d survived a multitude of monsoons, the possibility of electrocution and the loss of a pair of sandals I wanted. I figured I’d survive if grilled lettuce wouldn’t be tasty.

It actually was tasty. Very very tasty! And easy and quick. Make this if you don’t have time!

[print_this]Grilled little gem lettuce (recipe for 2)

• 2 small heads of little gem lettuce
• Crushed dried garlic
• Fresh ground mixed pepper
• Pink himalayan salt (or seasalt)
• olive oil (flavored optional)
• a grill pan

Take the outer leaves of your little gems and wash them. Shake them dry and cut them in half. Lay them open side down, so the remaining water can drip out.
In a small bowl mix the dried garlic, ground pepper and olive oil. Brush the oil mixture over the cut side of the little gems. After this I also sprinkled some oil infused with italian seasonings over the lettuce.
Let the oil seep in a little, while heating up your grill pan.

Once your grill pan is sizzling hot place the lettuce on there, outside down. As soon as the part touching the pan is starting to wilt a little, turn them over. With the cut side down leave them to wilt more and get a nice light brown crust/marking. Serve immediately.

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