Simons aan Zee

Simonis runs the incredible number of five restaurants in Scheveningen. One, we already went to last winter, and now we are visiting their beach club. Like the restaurant in the harbour, the decoration is very much fisherman-themed. Chandeliers made of rope, pictures of fish and shellfish on the walls and other fish-themed items are put in a mainly grey, blue and white restaurant. The waiters fit in nicely in their white and blue uniforms. On the beach club's soundsystem, unoffensive hits from the eighties and nineties are softly being played. As we descend the stairs from the boulevard to the beach club - Simonis aan Zee is located at Scheveningen's main boulevard, opposite the Kurhaus and close to the Pier - the first thing we see is a dish appealingly laid out in a glass display: the salmon steak is today's special offer for €15.

I ask Rihanna Gaga where she wants to sit, and she hesitates between inside and outside, then chooses outside, on the covered terrace. The weather is still warm enough and today, the sun is shining every now and then as large clouds dramatically float along the coast. Rihanna Gaga wants to draw and play with the coloured tape that she brought from home. She keeps herself busy with cutting pieces of tape and putting it on paper, then drawing some figures and discussing them with me. In between talking with Rihanna Gaga about the cat that she is drawing, I read a little bit. When the waitress comes, we order an apple juice, mint tea and the salmon steak.The fact that the waitress asks whether I want my steak raw, medium or well done is a good sign: it shows that the kitchen is a more important element here than in most beach clubs.

And indeed, the steak does not disappoint. It's medium, just like I ordered and just like a medium grilled salmon steak should be: crisp and dry on the outside and beautifully pink and juicy on the inside. It's served with French fries that are neither too greasy nor too salty, a pleasant white wine sauce with, surprisingly, crayfish in it, and a bit of salad - the latter comes with a slab of Russian salad that they could have done without, as far as I am concerned. It doesn't really add to the dish and some cucumbers and tomatoes would have been a better complement to the rest of the dish. Without having asked for it, the kind waitress has brought a separate plate for  Rihanna Gaga and she happily takes a large part of the salmon steak and French fries - luckily, the sauce is served seperately, because she wouldn't have liked it.

After finishing our food, Rihanna Gaga asks if she can have some chocolate milk. I agree and then she says she'd prefer to have it inside. So we pack our stuff and move inside. There, I have another tea, she takes a chocolate milk and I continue to read while she continues to draw. Every once in a while, we chat a little. She asks why there are no other children and I tell her I suspect they are at daycare or school. She's quite dismayed to find out school is actually open today, because she thought it was closed - and that this was the reason she's spending the day with me. "Would you prefer to go to school?" I ask and she nods, telling me that she finds it too boring with me. My heart breaks a little, but I know she often says things without really realising what she's saying exactly, so I tell her that if she wants to, she can go to school more often. She agrees, which really is slightly surprising since she still cries in the morning when we bring her to school. We'll see.

Rihanna Gaga is getting a bit more active. She wants to go outside, walks around the beach club and dances to the melancholic tones of "Viva Forever" by the Spice Girls. "It's a princess dance," she tells me. We've been having that argument the whole day - I've told her I'm no king, so she can't really be a princess, but we've come to agree that she can pretend to be one. Anyway, she told me, you're just wearing boring clothes and that's not nice, so you should pretend to be a princess as well and put on a dress or a skirt like me. I promised her that I would see what I could do.

The waitress gives her a lollipop and she's very happy with it. Later on, she also gets a drawing book from the waitress, but she's more interested in the lollipop. Luckily, she lets herself be corrected when I tell her not to run with a lollipop in her mouth. She's in a very easygoing mood today. Everything is fine - even though she complains she finds it boring every once in a while - and despite her remark that she would prefer to be in school, she mostly seems happy. We decide that it's time to go and I pay, after which we climb the stairs to the boulevard, where her bicycle is waiting for us. She cycled here from our house, me running along and saving her from falling down every once in a while. Now, we will go to the petting farm where we're going to

buy fresh goat milk, something she's quite excited about.