I have to admit I was quite exhausted. Near the end of our visit to my partner’s parents in Maassluis, the idea to go to a seafood place nearby came up, and the inclination to say no was very tempting. After sitting there in the living room barely saying a word because the conversation was predominantly in Dutch, like a disembodied spirit, my attention span flew off elsewhere while I had to pretend I knew what everyone else was talking about. Good thing I said yes because the food was fantastic, the view from our table was hard to miss, and after a while morning of gray and rain the sun made a glorious albeit late entrance. I even found myself half-baking, literally, since only one side of my face was facing the sun, I had to wipe some sweat off my brow. Notwithstanding the blues version of Hit Me Baby One More Time playing in the background, it turned out to be an amazing, memorable meal.