39 km to Acacier + 1+ km home: Souvenir and Saint Marc

This time I went to Acacier. The trip (from 4 am) went up to Yasukunidori (Yasukuni street/road), but then followed the canal to Akabahara. I turned north along Showa Dori, past Ueno Station, across Sumidagawa (Sumida River), and until the near side of Aragawa, by which time the sun was well up,

which has a riverside road for runners and cyclists. It was nice. I've gone across it but it really runs across where I usually want to go, so I had to work it into a roundabout route. 

I went four bridges, which is about 5 km, and then crossed and followed Shibagawa (actually, I followed "New" Shibagawa, the main branch) into Saitama Prefecture, my first time as a runner.

Eventually I reached the end of that path and took the road west toward the prefectural office, which ended around here,

which I'm not likely to get back to (who wants a "Fair Weather" cake shop?), and was definitely not so nice for running or walking, although it got me where I wanted to go and even there I saw at least one cyclist. Things stayed pretty outskirts-like (I don't think I've ever seen a drive-in Starbucks before) until actually at the prefectural offices, which are near the shop. I guess Saitama is not Tokyo.

The cakes I chose were Souvenir and Saint Marc. As usual, the park photo is not very flattering, but it's very hot today, so I wasn't going for maximum presentation. Actually, after running 39 km, I found that I was not that emotionally invested in the cake, so I was able to remember that three pieces is too many.

The Souvenir (500 yen) is chocolate mousse on the outside and lemon mousse on the inside. They were about 50:50 in terms of volume, which was a good balance (also, lemon is strong enough to compete with chocolate). The bottom was a kind of flaky in a bread-like way, which was interesting, and had nut pieces (almonds?) mixed in, for some additional flavor and texture. The cake was very good.

The Saint Marc, however, was sort of nothing. There's caramel on top, which gives crunch but not much taste, only the chocolate layer could really be tasted and it was nothing exciting. I've had Saint Marcs before elsewhere and liked them, but I'm not sure what was different this time.

The plus 1+ km in the run is the jog from the train station to home, just because I could, was dressed for it, and prefer not to waste time walking. Actually, from Urawa Station in Saitama was very convenient, with Shinjuku Station as only the third stop. I thought it was a "local" train, but I guess it does not serve that many stations, even if it runs parallel to tracks that do. They said something about it using some other line's tracks for our part of the route. It continues down to Yokohama.

9 km to Neues and Tokyo Midtown: Esterhazy Schnitten

I guess today's run was a little short, but still plenty hot. I stopped at Neues and got the Esterhazy Schnitten for 500 yen. Very good (but again, not on the on-line menu). The frosting was frosting sweet, so it would have been better with a drink, but this was in the middle of a run, so I didn't want to stop that long. Love this cafe, though. This is a kind of standard German (well, Hungarian) tort with spiced buttercream sandwiched between almond meringue dough (at least traditionally: this was a nutty cake, but not sure that it was meringue).

I stopped at Midtown to visit their nice grocery because I was interested in caramels for melting and topping my cheese pie with. I talked about caramel here previously but had not realized that the flavor I know as caramel is actually milk caramel ("caramels", as in the candy), or maybe caramel sauce, but full on caramel cooks all the water out, so that's probably why sometimes when I order caramel things they taste funny to me, because I'm only used the taste of sweetened caramelized milk. Found the same brand of milk caramels at Midtown as elsewhere for cheaper, so I went ahead and bought them. Don't know whether I'll have time today to experiment, but I'm thawing a pie.

Ginza run to Kimuraya

Usual route to Ginza and went to Kimuraya, which I had gone past in going to the Nihonbashi Origines Cacao recently. Established 1900, it seemed like I shouldn't ignore it. Not really focused on the kinds of cakes I'm into, but got a blueberry tart. It's not listed in their online menu, so I don't have the real name. It's blueberries piled onto some sort of cream or mild cheese on top of a plain butter tart, I think. It was reasonable, at about 485 yen. It was good enough, for 8 pm (the tart was obviously not freshly baked). I'd go again as a backup or if I needed a cafe in that neighborhood.

Regular weekday run out to Dalloyao: Rocher d'Ete

Took the usual route to Dalloyao and got a Rocher d'Ete for 594 yen. It's a tiny globe. Inside the chocolate (I assumed, although not in the description) covering is a layer (hemisphere) of vanilla mousse, then a layer of ginger and caramel cream, and caramel sauce (maybe in the base) with enough cereal to give it some crunch. Tastes like a decadent ice cream sundae, in a good way. Great cake from a great shop. I ate it in the dark in Hibiya Park, but used the flashlight on my phone to take the picture (since the flash pictures look terrible from that close). Had to eat it like an ice cream cone because my fork bag had fallen out (in my room, so I didn't litter it somewhere).

The demos continue against changing the constitution (or reinterpreting it) to allow wider military action. I might have run through a police blockage next to the PM's residence, but they had lots of time to stop me (and enough men to block my way). There is a kind of hill that runs up one side, but the demo was staying on the top on the other side. Often the street is closed, but usually you can use the far sidewalk. After running through the line of cops (which they let me do) and down the hill, I noticed at the bottom that the only other two people using the hill were two ladies with a cop escorting them. But maybe he was just helping down the hill, since they thanked him at the bottom. In any case, it was easier for everyone just to let me do my thing. Probably good that I was not carrying cake.

Ran into a big film crew in the park north of Akasaka Palace, but could get through okay. There were several vehicles of people and equipment for a nighttime shoot. I don't know if they were doing a rain scene or just had wet things down to reduce the heat. Not much security, so I assume it was just some TV drama. 

No running

Since yesterday was my long run day and today it hit 35 degrees in Tokyo, no running, although I did some weight training indoors. I might regret it tomorrow, because rain is forecast. I went to Isetan for cake and checked out the Sucreries Nerd counter, but did not get too excited and ended up with just bread from Andersen, including this,

a ricotta cheese lemon pie, which was okay but not as great as I hoped. Next time I'll try the cinnamon bun. I still have a card from Sucreries Nerd, so maybe I'll go by when I run out of other places, since being at Isetan is recommendation enough.

Of course, I still had half a homemade chocolate-topped cheese tart. This time in adding the chocolate, I mixed in a tablespoon of yogurt to break up the crystal so I could cut through it rather than just break it into loose pieces, which worked. Today I added raspberry jam, which also worked. I asked at Jean-Paul Hevin about their sauces the other day, but they are about 3000 yen for 200 g and you ideally should finish the jar within two weeks of  opening it. I decided that 3000 yen was too much for me, so I'd stick to cheaper toppings, at least until I have company.

37 km inside Tokyo to Patisserie Partage: Aphredite, Marc, and Chocolat Pistache Griotte

Sorry, no pictures today due to camera preparer failure (got to put the memory card back in the camera before you pack it).

The important thing was that I could go 37 km safely, more or less by this route. I looped around north to avoid leaving Tokyo (otherwise, it's about 30 km and passes through Kanagawa Pref.), although the initial turn was supposed to follow the river just for the sake of following the river, but initially I found myself up on the hill/bluff above one side, which surprised me when I got a look beyond the first time. Also, the whole loop took me up, down, through, and under (really wide sidewalk in the tunnel, a whole lane, but it's noisy in there; the shade was appreciated, but it really was not that much cooler: not such a long tunnel) hillier areas, so it was much different than my normal flat runs.

Lessons learned:
  I need to get up another 30 minutes earlier, 3:30, although today was mostly okay.
  The new running-shop socks seemed to work much better than the old general athletic socks; that is, my feet from the top of my sock down to my heel were not bright red after my run, just somewhat pink. So I need more of these expensive socks (or find cheaper thin ones that are good for running elsewhere).
  Need to simplify the path: the residential section at the end was a mystery, with roads on different levels of hills. I should have traded the river path for a main road to the road along the rail line (which runs by the shop) to my destination, or at least zoom in with Google Maps on the parts that might not be clear. For these runs outside the Tokyo core, I have to rely on a 1:50,000 scale map, although I already frequently was using the 1:25,000 part from than the 1:12,500 of my Tokyo's 23 (special) districts map.
  Two pieces of cake is enough.

For the cake, the first one looked like this, because that is what it is: Aphrodite. It resembles an ice cream sandwich, but is more of a firm mousse. It's tayberry, as far as the jam, which is a cross between red raspberry and blackberry. But the middle is cinnamon Bavarian creme (if I'm translating ババロア correctly) and the cookie is sablé, with almonds I'm guessing. Very good, like ice cream (I'm not that into actual ice cream, but I find that really rich cake reminds me of ice cream flavors). Getting the cookie to break to edible pieces without squishing the middle is a challenge with this cake. I think taking off the top, as messy as that is with the jam, and breaking that up separately to the side and putting it back is the best bet. I would definitely get this again.

My second pieces was the Marc (マール) (as in Marc Brandy) for 490 yen, which has a baked tart base under cassis (black current) and vanilla mousse. Very good. This person has a picture, the red one. I've only made custard tarts, so I'm not sure what you do to get the solid crumbly but rich middle. Something involving butter or almond butter and flour, I assume.

The last is the only one on their website, the Chocolat Pistache Griotte. I really need to stop getting chocolate pistachio everywhere I go, especially mousse in summer. It was fine as this standard cake goes. The griotte is the cherries, which are under the pistachio core. I don't really like cherries in my cake, but these were okay, not a bad idea.

Although not convenient, if they come back to Isetan again (which would not be for a couple years), I'll want to visit their counter again.

Now to plan the 39 km run for next week.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Mille Feuille Chocolat

No running, but really hot, so I'm worried about tomorrows run (although I'll finish before when I went out for cake). Went for some definitely great cake at Jean-Paul Hévin (Isetan takeaway) and chose Mille Feuille Chocolat for 882 yen, which is great cake and big, so the price is to some extent reasonable. Not much to say: it's chocolate Mille Feuille. It's marked new on the web site, but they've had chocolate mille feuille before, just not continuously. My eating strategy was to turn it on its side and patiently saw through the layers with a knife a I ate, which worked fine, although I still needed my thumb to hold it is place.

13 km loop through Takagi: Emile Framboise

Too hot again, but a little better. Anyway, I kept going. I ran past La Vie Douce and the main shop of Chez Cima, so I added them to the map, along with today's route, although I'm getting an error so I don't know if it's actually working yet.

The goal was to get some good cake from Takagi, but I got the Emile Framboise, which I was not really into. Summer, of course, is not a good time for cake if you don't like the jelly ones. It just wasn't doing much for me, although better than Short Cake. Takagi was always sort of a marginal choice for great shop, being more convenient than great, but I know I've had better, in other seasons at least, so I'll keep trying.

I also had a quarter of homemade cheese tart with chocolate on top, which was excellent, so no complaints.

Just a few kilometers

So I said no cakeshop cake today, but I meant I was not going to buy any. If someone else buys it, I'll eat it. Today was a company anniversary and there was surprise cake. The person who chooses the cake really likes strawberry short cake, which is what we got last time, when it was a surprise cake for the president's birthday, only this time from Takagi. It was okay. If you want a little yellow sponge and a lot of white cream with some okay strawberries, Takagi is not bad, but I prefer more taste with my cake and less air. It's so light, and yet it was heavy in my stomach, sitting at my desk.

It was really hot and humid tonight, so I did not follow my somewhat planned course much. It rained for a while, which was not too bad, but it did not do much for the humidity and made me think it would be stupid to be caught far from hope if a lightning storm began, which could still happen. A pack of runners passed me around Akasaka Palace, which was more crowded than normal. For me, though it's not worth getting heat stroke to do hard training. It's get permanently grounded for summer running if that happened. Tomorrow will be hotter during the day, but less cloudy, so maybe it will cool off. Looks like the typhoon will swing around north to the Sea of Japan side and keep things clear but hot here in Tokyo for the next week (and more). I'm busy Saturday morning, so I plan to get up early (or stay up late) and run Sunday morning for the big run this weekend.

I did, by the way, melt a chocolate bar over a cheese tart, which works, but the chocolate is hard and just breaks when you cut into, of course. Can you just put chocolate in the bottom of the tart shell and put the cheese filling on next and bake it normally? Even if it just mixes in, that would still be good, but I've got to deal with the 4 1/4 cheese tarts that I have before I experiment that way.

12 km follow-the-signals run with cake from La Maison du Chocolat: L'Entremet Pralines

I decided to try going southwest from Aoyama Road toward Omotesando for a change. As expected it was more crowded but fairly manageable. Had a close brush with the rare female slave zombie, but avoided injury.

This took me past Chocolat Chic (which I've added to the map), which sounds like it should be good but they aren't that into chocolate and their cake isn't very good, in my experience. I actually stopped at La Maison du Chocolat for the first time. Really expensive: 810 yen for L'Entremet Pralines. This is seven layers. Despite the structure and look, the texture ends up similar to a typical American chocolate layer cake as far as high sugar frosting and moist cake. The praline was peanuts and hazelnuts and I have to say that peanuts just does not work for me in cake, although in general the cake seemed well made. Cleverly, they a lump of raspberry flavored ganache (I think it was ganache) while I was waiting, which was quite excellent, so obviously I should have gotten the raspberry cake. Since the sweetness of my cake suggests that it would be better with tea, I'll consider going back there when I'm not alone and visiting the upstairs salon.

The rest of the run made a figure eight, not really intentionally, just that's the way the lights were at the intersections and I went with them. I mapped it on the regular weekday map, for a change. 

Tomorrow is going to have to be homemade cake, to conserve resources. Fortunately, I have a lot of cheese tarts in the freezer. Of course, this means I'm tempted to buy sauces for toppings, which can be more expensive than cake, at least one for one. I'll try something simple and cheap first, though, like adding a layer of dark chocolate on top using a melted chocolate bar.

Local run: about 11 km

Ran down to Tokyo Midtown and visited Toshi Yoroizuka and ate cake outside (fortunately, the wind wasn't bad there compared to when I started and the heat was tolerable) for some store-bought cake from a great shop, before doing the other 3/4 of my run. This is the Bernard, which uses Sicilian pistachios, an accent of chocolate, and a little feuillantine (baked crepe) for texture, or that's what the description online says.

My impression is a pistachio mousse on top, a layer of raspberry, a sort of regular cake layer that's also pistachio flavored, or at least green, another slightly different, maybe creamier pistachio layer, and then the chocolate bottom that is hard. Dissecting it, the top is more gelatinous than I prefer and the cake layer seems a little soggy by itself, but put them all together, with a little whipped cream on one side, and it's great cake. The flavor really sticks with you too after you eat it, in a good way, so one is enough.

Monday (holiday): baking at home

I prepared a run course, but slept in instead, which is fine: in general, I don't away sleep so well, so catching up is good and I found myself quite exhausted Monday. I completed the 14 cm peach rum custard tart, which was good but messy (thus, I was forced to eat all of it at once).

The other project was to try to follow my mother's cheese pie recipe exactly, which is a matching problem: cheese comes in 200 g, not 8 oz, evaporated milk comes in 170 ml, not 1/2 cup, and I use 14 cm tart forms instead of a whatever size the pie recipe calls for. At least the eggs match up reasonably well with the can of milk (3 eggs to 1 can). I can deal with leftover cheese more easily. As you can see, the confection oven is a little strong for them, even reducing the cook time 10%. I did not roll out the dough well and/or prepare enough dough, so the crusts had some gaps that leaked, so actually I not only wasted some fill but had leftover, so I've got two more in the oven now. And this time, I got the timing on the dough right (put the dough balls in the frig too long, but waited for them to soften on the counter to the right consistency to be able to roll them out well). However, this time I'm trying baking the crust together with the filling rather than double baking. I know that works with an oil crust, but these are butter crusts, with a lot more sugar (too much I decided, so I reduced from the minimum 30 g to 20 g). Anyway, I froze 3 1/2 of these and tried a piece of one, and it was good except that I thought to taste the cheese more, I needed to decrease the sugar.

Ginza run, no cake

At 7 pm, ran to Ginza and back (about 10 km) to visit the CW-X Conditioning Stop there (since the Hanzoumon one closed) and buy some running clothes. Much more expensive than cake. Triple points, though, and they gave me an extra point for having run there in the heat (and because it filled up my card and they're nice).

Sunday cake shop tour: 1st shop, Ryoco

Even though I ran 35 km yesterday and I am not sore at all except for the skin around my ankles (I need to get cooler socks, I think), so I almost went running today but thought better of it, which is just as well. Instead, I took out the granny bike and decided that I don't need to buy a bike now, not just because this one works amazingly well, given that it is several years old and had little done to it, but because now it is too hot. Of course, I could get up early, but if I want to visit cake shops, I have to go when they open, or at least I can't start back until they do, by which time it's really too hot. So my plan is to wait for fall before buying a bicycle. I also figured out that I did not take the planned path through Roppongi yesterday but instead stayed on the main road when I should have branched right, which is made my trip only slight longer as far as distance but wasted time while I puzzled briefly about why I had reached the expressway without there being a subway station, which I passed later, further south.

The first shop today was Ryoko, from which I learned that I should line up 10 minutes early, because no one was there standing in the hot sun at that time (I went around and bought and ate my vegetable), but there were several people ahead of me at opening time, so I had to wait a few minutes outside for there to be space to get in (at which time, there were several people behind me) and a total of about 25 minutes to get cake. I ate this nearby, but it immediately started melting, because the day was already hot (10:30 am opening in summer is inconvenient); was not a problem, though. This cake is Cara Doux for 540 yen, and has two kinds of chocolate and caramel. The label says that it's suited to adult tastes. It is great, as I remembered.

Sunday cake shop tour: 2nd shop, Lettre D'Amour [Closed]

I made my second trip to Lettre D'Amour, and they are looking like a great shop, except no other customers soon after opening at 11 am. They are part of a consortium, or something, so they may be okay as far as finding other work if it doesn't work out there. Anyway, I got the Tarte Exotique, which was great. It is pineapple and almond cream baked in the tart shell with a layer of milk chocolate mousse sandwiched between salt caramel ganache. On top is a compote of pineapple, mango, banana, and passion fruit such that you can "enjoy the feeling of the fruit flesh". I can't say I'm fond of all these ingredients (I don't really go for pineapple or banana in my cake and I'm not sure why mango and passion fruit are so popular), but it completely works. This was 550 yen. I better get back there before they close shop. It's on my list of places to visit the cafe.

Sunday cake shop tour, 3rd shop: Fraoula

Today I went last to Fraoula and got the Tarte Fraise for 540 yen, which the description says is full of strawberries, which it is. Too much strawberry for me really, although a very good tart. Notice that they are mostly whole strawberries. About Fraoula (I'm not sure whether to capitalize it, based on their card), they did have another customer around noon, but not really the volume you would want to maintain a store. Also, they use the spelling Bostock for the French toast-like pastry, with a "k", although I resisted buying, since I knew I had more than enough already, even after 35 km yesterday.

35 km to Seijo Alpes

This is the running route map. The first leg was to Shinagawa Station. This was good, although muggy even at 5:30 am, and I should have bypassed the route I took through Roppongi: very crowded with people doing the bars or working for the bars (I assume).

Next was Shinagawa to Jiyuugaoka, which had the usual problem of me having trouble navigating Ota-ku. Trying to follow the path above a train line where it is underground, I took a wrong turn just after here

at a five-way intersection. I should stay of Ota-ku unless I'm following a river or something obvious.

After the turn at Jiyuugaoka, I got a sports drink from a convenience and drank it pretty quickly (although I carry two 500 ml water bottles and refill them as I go past park drinking fountains) and then past Nakameguro, I got a Bostoc at Aux Bacchanales,

so now I know what this is. I didn't like it as much as the one from Fraoula. I think this one was a lot moister in the middle. It was okay and only 180 yen, so it was a good midway snack.

I turned east near Yoyogi Park. The last leg following the train line to Seijo Gakuenmae Station (named after a school) was great: enough pedestrian traffic to slow cars but not enough to be a problem except maybe the last couple stations where first there were first almost no pedestrians and then for the last little bit, where I had lost sight of the train line (even though I was near the station), suddenly there were dozens of high school girls going the other way. I think there must have been an open campus event, since they were from different high schools (they wear uniforms, so you can tell, although they tend to travel in packs of like uniforms).

Today, the humidity seemed to burn off a little around 7 am but never felt any hotter and it was cloudy. Guess I'm going to have to pay attention to the weather reports more: no running when the heat stroke index is in the red "danger" zone (last night they said noon for southern Kanto, which includes Tokyo, but actually the temperature was falling by 11 am in eastern Tokyo. It rained from around noon and sometimes afterward, which spikes the humidity, so my timing was good. I'd like to leave earlier next time, though, maybe 4:00 or 4:30.

The cake was okay, but not great. I should have left it in the refrigerator for a few more hours or popped it in the freezer to firm up the mousse, but it did not actually melt. They ask you how long you have to carry it when you buy, but the question is either rhetorical or they have no sense of the difference between summer and winter, since they put in only one tiny freezer pack with my three pieces of cake. Even if I'm not dressed for a cafe, I should eat in.

I got the Noble （ノーブル）for 470 yen、which is hazelnuts in ganache with bavarois (Bavarian cream) chocolate.

Then I had the Mireille (ミレイユ) for 440 yen, which is blueberry and cassis (blackcurrant) mousse with condensed milk cream, with a little white chocolate on top and the chocolate shop name plate, which I respect.

Finally, I had the mousse chocolate and Tahiti vanilla cream, Anphicles (アンフィクレ）for 450 yen. They all seemed fine. If I lived near here, I would go back (actually, my next route takes me back there anyway, but they'll probably be closed when I pass them), but I don't need to.

In the evening, I got this linzer tort and a baguette from Le Petit Mec. This is tiny for 300 yen, but actually the right size. It's raspberry and very good.

(Thursday) Rest with Le Petit Mec

After running four days in a row, and with the typhoon making heavy-rain warnings, I didn't run Thursday or Friday. Thursday I made curry, so I bought this "rustic" baguette, one of several types they have, from Le Petit Mec on the first floor of Marui department store at Shinjuku Sanchome (across from Isetan). I'll put it on the map. I have not searched around, but this is the best place I now for baguettes.

Weekday run to Aux Bacchanales Ginza: Castel

Again, I took the long way straight south to Aoyama Street and then west to the Moat course and on to Ginza, but this time I looped south, around Hibiya Park. Also, I carried cake rather than try to eat it outside, which was fine as it was not so windy as yesterday (the calm before the storm). Today was the land day of the heat wave and the taiphoon-generated rain storm has started. I hope that it lightens up at least by Sunday so that I can take a run, since this week I was able to get some training in (and rain might be better than 30+ degree air temp over hot asphalt in the sun). At least the storm is only scheduled through Friday with just normal rain for Saturday, but these things are not very predictable.

The cake was Castel for 475 yen. Was able to take pictures, although the name card failed fo focus and my Internet access is crap, but I got the index of cakes to load eventually. This is apparently a specialty of Aix-en-Provence, being hazelnut dacquoise as the cake and praline cream in between with whole/pieces of almonds and hazelnuts (besides the creamed nuts in the praline). A simple and focused cake in some ways, but great for a nut cake lover. This is the main reason that I call this a great shop, since the cake selection is not that deep or varied, but the two cakes I've posted about are great. I should try more of the other cakes, and plan to. Note that the lighting is golden: the plate is actually bone white, but the white flash-photo looks awful so I still used this. I guess I'll use the other overhead light next time.

Weekday run around the imperial palace and cake from Viron: Soleil

I did the long way to the moat route: down to Aoyama Road past Meiji Ginguu Gaien. I stopped for cake at Viron, which is pretty famous. I've had some good cake there. This time I got the Soleil, for 540 yen, which for some reason my camera would not take a picture of in the field. Too windy to run with cake and too windy where I was to eat it easily outside. Anyway, it is very summery, being coconut mousse above passion fruit Bavarian creme. Not great and I should stay away from coconut. I didn't mind the taste, but I still don't like the texture of shredded coconut, even as an adult.

Next time needs to be a great shop, to make up for this one. Also, I don't need to go back to Viron soon. There are other cafe/bakery/patisserie out there (if you don't mind the mixed languages).

Weekday run with cake at Neues: Dobostorte

I ran down to and three quarters around Meiji Ginguu Gaien and then tried to time myself on one loop around Akasaka Palace, but failed to reach even my previous time, which had been after several timed loops around Meiji Ginguu Gaien. It was really hot, even at 7 pm, so timed runs may have to wait for October. On the second loop, I stopped and had Dobostorte at Neues for 500 yen. It was very good and I was quite satisfied. Wikipedia shows this cake with a picture from Gerbeaud, which has a cafe the opposite direction down Auyama Road just past Omotesandou Station, although I bet it's more expensive there (and I can't remember it being better, at least if that is one of the ones I've had there, which I think it is). I'll keep visiting Neues. It's comfortable and convenient and has good cakes.

Amazingly, I have some occasional readers, some of whom are highly knowledgeable about cars. Is this an interesting car? This was taken on Aoyama Road near Akasaka-mitsuke Station. (I could have taken a picture of BMWs, but they did not seem noteworthy.)

32 km to Jun Ujita: Gateau morjolaine, Orange caramel, Chocolat pistache

Today was a 32 km run along this course (I've imported things from the current Weekday map), which hits Jun Ujita at about the one-third point and returns there for the end. At the first visit (actually I've gotten simple chocolate cake there some time just to confirm that I hadn't been ignoring them for a good reason), I got a Gateaux majolaine for 450. As you see, with a hazelnut meringue crust (definitely could tell the nuttiness), there is a cream and butter layer and a cream and praline layer in the form a ganache sandwich. It was very good, but not so special. Maybe I would have wanted it to be a little "heavier", but then it would be a different cake.

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Sunday run (2) to Jun Ujita

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After the other two thirds of the run, I could barely see straight to navigate and I was out of breath for at least the last several kilometers. Granted, due to rain and work and social commitments, I only got in one run last mid-week, which is pathetic. Monday thru Wednesday are supposed to be okay this week (as far as weather, and the social side is quiet), so I'm going to try to get out every day. Plus it was 30+ degrees out today, though May was just as hot. Anyway, I'm going to try to plan more rests and drink something more fortified than water next time and see how that goes. Also, I need to end at a nearby grocery, because what I really need before cake is drinkable yogurt and vegetables.

As far as the cake, which I took home and ate after lunch, I got the Orange Caramel, which uses homemade orange confit mixed into almond dough to make a sandwich of caramel creme brulee. It's fine, at 460 yen.

I also got the Chocolat Pistache, which uses Sicilian pistachio cream and griottines (cherries) inside a chocolate dough/crust, so its kind of creamy. The cherry is very mild, so I was not even sure what fruit it was. This too is fine. I'd visit this shop if I lived in this area or went to the church across the street (which someone stopped and asked me where it was after having just passed it, driving on the short road named after it, so I am pretty sure I pointed him to the right place), both of which look very nice.

Au bon vieux temps: ice desserts

Been busy (and it's the rainy season), so not much running or cake, but went to the cafe in Au Bon Vieux Temp in Oyamadai (near Jiyuugaoka) to try some of the frozen desserts, which are really expensive, so I waited until I was not alone. .

These both have bites out of them. The first is chocolate, with a name something like Monse Glaci Choco Choco, for 1000 yen. It's chocolate, of course. The inside is frozen chocolate mousse, so it doesn't melt at all on the plate, even as the outer chocolate, which is maybe more a traditional ice cream, but still very hard, melts to the touch. It's good, but not as a good as great cake. 

The second is called something like Bombe ABVT, where ABVT refers to the name of the shop. This is caramel on the outside, with white maybe ice cream, yellow maybe chestnut-flavored ice cream, and a frozen pear core. I like this better and it was 800 yen, which is still steep, like all the ice desserts.

These were interesting, but I think I'll stick with regular cake. At home, yesterday and today, we finished off the other two cheese pies (baked cheese cake). When not warm, the olive oil crust is solid but with not such a strong taste; actually, it's a little salty. The tart crust one was also good, although still a little boring; it's sort of like a cookie. Both they and the cheese froze fine, which is good news, as I don't usually want to eat it all at once.

Acacier at Isetan: tarte framboise joanes (updated)

This week's shop was Acacier, which is in Saitama Prefecture. If I run out of Tokyo places I want to go, I'll visit neighboring prefectures, as long as running in Tokyo is involved. It is their first day at Isetan, so they were half sold out of cake when I got there. I got the Tarte Framboise Joanes (golden raspberries). I need to check my camera settings and lighting, because they look pink, which the ones I saw on Saturday were not. This was 599 yen. The flavor is very mellow and the tart was excellent, although nothing stands out as special except the fruit, nor would I expect it to. It's a standard shell with custard and then whipped cream, perhaps, forming the dome on which to arrange the raspberries.

13.5 km to Origines Cacao (Shinbashi): Fraicheur

So, today (Tuesday) was the day is was not supposed to rain so much this week, which was pretty much true, although there was a little on the way out. I did 1 3/4 laps around Meiji Gingu Gaien, with 1 lap in 6:05, which beat my old best but involved a lot more foamy spit than I like in my runs, so I think I'll work on a different distance next week. I took the counterclockwise route around Akasaka Palace and continued along Aoyama Street until it connected up with the moat route. I joined the path there and continued until Hibiya Park and then turned south. I should have gone back the way I came (although then I would have had to run against the pack with cake, which you can, since there are always some people going the other way, but usually not runners). The problem with heading west first to head back to Akasakamitsuke is all the major cross streets. Fortunately, I have exercises to do while waiting. I stopped at Paul's at Yotsu Station for some bread for my diner and at the 100 yen shop for a few things. Of course, I continued jogging all the way.

The far point was the Shinbashi branch of Origines Cacao, which I had never been to and had forgotten about (I suppose I had noticed it on the card that I had gotten from the Jiyuugaoka branch, which is a little bigger and has a small bar/cafe area). They had all of two pieces of cake left at 8 pm. I got the one marked new, which was the Fraicheur (フレシェール) for 497 yen. It's an Earl Grey scented (?) white chocolate mousse flavored by a passion fruit and orange gelatin. I had low expectations, but it was extremely good, with a great balance of flavors and very rich. Great cake again from a great shop.

 

Sunday without running: Fraoula and Aigre-Douce

It as a rest day, so I was lazy and did not take notes. After other shopping, I went to Fraoula and got (update: bostoc?) the below. The first is salted caramel macarons, although they just seemed like macarons to me. The set was only about 400 yen, which is reasonable. They are slightly smaller than average, but not tiny. I recommend with tea or sharing, since by the third one I was finding them a little too sweet. I wish I could remember what the other thing is. It's from the baked things and is only about 200 yen but is better than most cakes. It involves a lot of eggs. There are almond slices there, but the taste is of maple. Whatever it is, it is great and I get it when I can.

This sad thing is a Charlotte aux (or maybe "de") Framboise. Again, I've demonstrated the futility of trying to use the bicycle basket to carry cake. If I go on a ride, I should just eat where I go. Anyway, there is some raspberry in there, but actually the main part of the center is a light lemon chiboust, or maybe the chiboust is the top part, but that does not seem to match other things I've seen called chiboust in Japan. Anyway, the middle part is semi-frozen, or starts close to that, and then there are some raspberries on the bottom. I'm not that much into Charlotte's, I guess, although I've had ones that used more a biscuit for constructing the ring around the soft middle, which I like better.

This was supposed to be based on my mother's recipe for cheese pie (cake), but I did a major substitution so it doesn't taste like anything I've had before. Also, you're not supposed to brown the top, but I can't see that it's hurt any thing. The inside seems a little soft, if anything, so it's not overcooked. It still tastes good, but I'll try to do it properly next time, as I'd like a firmer texture in the cooked cheese. Also, I should not have used the pie crust (although so delicious with olive oil) recipe that goes with it, since it's definitely a pie crust and I'm using 14 cm tart forms (just bought a third one Saturday: they're expensive). One of these used a leftover tart dough from my custard tart experiments (with only two tart forms), so I'll eventually compare the crusts.

Full disclosure, I also finally failed to resist the cinnamon bun at La Saison near Sanmiyabashi Station. It was as a large cinnamon bun should be (especially if it is 400 yen plus).

Saturday (1st shop) 30 km to Patisserie Bigarreaux: Le plaisir, Citron, and Pithivier

Well, since I had put together almost 26 km in two runs last time, I had planned to run 28 km, but I have to add 1 km for not looking at the original map and 1 km because I missed a turn (I updated the map), so I suppose I should plan 32 km for next time and see whether I can stay on course.

I ate in the store, Patisserie Bigarreaux on Sazae-san (longest running television animated series) Street, so given how tired I was, as soon as they put them in front of me I dug in (but in small bites, dissecting). However, since I was still in the store, I could take pictures afterwards.

First is Le plaisir, which, as you can see from the card is 540 yen and has hazelnuts and orange and some caramel-type flavor mousse chocolat. It is just the kind of mousse, cream, and crunchy base that I like. I'll say great cake, knowing that this evaluation might have more to do with the kind of cake I like than whether it was actual well made, but that's just the way it has to be.

The citron (lemon) for 480 yen is a lighter sweeter cake with actual somewhat spongy cake and lemon icing/cream. Again, great cake. 

The Pithivier for 340 yen, which is an almond cream filled mini-pie/tart, did not work following the sweet lemon. It did not taste bad, just a little bitter, so I did not appreciate it. I assume that it's actually fine, normally.

Saturday (2nd shop), Maison de petit four: "vague"

I did reconnaissance for next week in the Oyamadai to Jiyuugaoka stretch and stopped in some great shops but found that I was satisfied enough that I didn't want to wait (they were all busy on a Saturday afternoon). However, I swung through Isetan on the way to the 100 yen shop to stock up on yogurt, bananas, tofu, and some cheap snacks because I realized that I had not checked on the visiting cake shop of the week, which was a new one to me, Maison de petit four. I got the vague (or that's what the name looks like to me and their website doesn't list the little cakes). By coincidence (because Tokyo is a really small city), I jogged right past it today without noticing it (I wasn't noticing a lot by that point) when I was jogging along the Nomikawa (a river). I had jogged only the end part of this before where the river is buried and it's just a trail with a narrow park down the middle, but this time I jogged most of it, probably as much as you want to bother. It seemed a good place to jog, without not too much difficulty continuing without major detours or waits for cross-traffic.

Anyway, it's obviously chocolate cake. Supposedly it has bittersweet chocolat ganache. My impression was that it was a little watery, an impression that I've had before with chocolate cake. I'm not sure what it signifies, since it is not literally wet. Maybe the cake is very low fat or something, so it lacks richness. I don't know if I'll give them a second chance: they've got three more days at Isetan. Too bad, because I don't know any other shops down in Ota-ku.

Korinky (コリンキー)

No running Thursday or Friday. Felt a little weird both days and anyway there's heavy rain on and off. There should be a window of not raining all the time Saturday. Also, no cake. Instead I tried to make meringue. That 90% failed and took a lot of time and exercise. I'll try again under ideal conditions (fresher egg whites, electric mixer, maybe I'll dehumidify the room).

Instead I put into record this thing, the korinky (not necessarily the official spelling):

As you can see, it looks like a squash, because it is a squash, related to the common Japanese pumpkin, kobocha (which is the same species as the giant pumpkin rather than the common variety). One source (and it's hard to find any: Wikipedia was no help in either language), says it was first recording in 2002. You can cook it, I think, but it's main feature is that you can eat it raw. Basically, it tastes like cucumber, so it can go a long way in salad. You don't have to peel it or seed it (although people probably do), just eat the whole thing besides the stem. It's pretty cheap too, as exotic produce goes, 200 yen at the local store and probably much cheaper in the region where they grow it.

Running slopes and stairs to Libertable: Crystal

The rain stopped most of the time and otherwise was not significantly different from the rain of sweat. Still, it was a late start due to work, so I had an excuse to not stray too far. I did my usual steepest slope loop near the Soka Gakkai campus/complex three times and did two and a half times around the pair of stairways at the nearby main neighbor shrine, and some other regular slopes before heading around Akasaka Palace and visiting Libertable again for the Crystal, which is a shu cream which is mostly hazelnut praline cream, which is different. For 388 yen, it is pretty reasonable and very good. It had been since Sunday that I had had a professionally made cake, so I would have bought the Zenith if they had had it, but this was still a good choice.

I also completed the rum banana tart and have to say, eh. I like bananas in my yogurt for breakfast, but I guess not otherwise. I've never had anything else with bananas where I appreciated them, just I had this tart recipe (from the cookbook that came with my oven) and wanted to try it. The custard and shell are still fine. I wonder whether I could substitute peaches. Run and peaches go together, don't they? I've still got 80 ml of rum, or about 5 more 14 cm tarts. 

Almost forgot that I took the next picture. I correctly judged that it would still be clear at night with my shaky hand. This is on Aoyama Street near where the loop around Akasaka Palace grounds runs into it going clockwise.