Neighborhood run, 62.6 km

Put together all my supposedly confirmed neighborhood runs and tried to run them in one day. Was late turning one place, which added a little, but it was planned as 62+ km. I had figured 8 hours, but I wasn't that fast, especially toward the end (though I could keep running, even up the many stairs), taking 8:23:23. I could have kept running, but I can't say that I was disappointed to stop, so I'll probably let this distance stand as a person record and try to enjoy running in some other way than trying a 100 km run next. I didn't damage anything, but it does not seem wise to be running down the streets too tired. At the very least, I don't need to run farther than I can keep up a 8 km/h pace, though I'm not sure how to make allowances for stairs. Tomorrow I'll rest, so I can consider it then.

For snacks, besides three calorie mate cookies (I had more in my bag) and a couple salt candies, I had two pasties (Friday and Monday's share) and one piece of cake.

The first pastry was a Raw Chocolate Tarte, I think (it's not list on their site), from Heart Bread Antique. This was really pretty much chocolate pudding in a tart shell, so it was not clearly more a pastry than a cake, but they are bakery, so pastry will do. This was definitely good and I appreciated at the time. This was maybe 3.5 hours in.

At around 6 hours, I got an Almond Croissant (again, long run, so I don't remember the actual name, and it's not included among the items listed on their site) from Aux Bacchanales, who are still in the pasty and bread business. The powered sugar was maybe too much (though I was okay with it), but this was also definitely good. It's baked with a thick crust that makes it seem almost deep fried to me, not so different from other ones I've had.

Finally, despite my long expectations, since they simply cake take-out places, I include Cozy Corner as a Patisserie rather than just a café. I got their Gateau Chocolat (correcting their spelling to make the phonetic Japanese name, as well as the obvious French basis). They also have what they call Chocolate Cake, which I assume is less chocolaty, if that's possible. My first reaction was that this was okay, because there were brief instances when I sense traditional American-style chocolate cake flavor amid the cream and it did not taste bad. Except, probably from whatever they used as decoration chocolate (I assume that coco butter was replaced by some homogenized vegetable oil so that it wouldn't melt, though I couldn't say that there was any actual chocolate in it) left a sickly sweet candy flavor that seems familiar but I can't identify. So this was just bad, which doesn't shock me. It's not vile, it's just bad if you've paid some attention to what constitute good cake, a least according to my tastes.

I noted Hi-Cacao Chocolate Stand, which at least has chocolate fondant, which may count as cake, though they are only by Omotesando temporarily before opening a shop in Daikanyama, which my neighborhood course doesn't reach to yet.

Ginza walk: Dalloyau, Narutokintoki Murasaki Tart

Been a while. I was confirming that Tokyo is the best place for cake. Did some long slow walking there (16.6 at about 4.5 km/h), but today the first half averaged above 6.5 km/h. I'm going to drop keeping track of half-kilometers/hour speeds at the next update of my chart to track my running budget, probably when my average exceeds 6.5 km/h in general for a total of 9.2 km both ways (skipping a lot of shopping walking).

Frédéric Cassel's last announced special (not the monthly) was not visible there at 5 pm on Monday. I suspect that normal specials only past until Sunday or they run out of ingredients, not sure which. Anyway, Aux Bacchanales is close and is the highest priority of the near-greats that I'm going to set (because I've only blogged 4 cakes), so I thought I'd get a head start on catching them up, but it turns out they gave up on patisserie stuff in June. Too bad, because they had a couple cakes I really liked. Ended up going back to Dalloyau and got the Nautokintoki Muraski Tart, which is a seasonal sweet potato tart for 324 yen. I don't think Nautokintoki is normally purple and there were non-purple chunks inside, so I suspect the purple part is normal Japanese sweet potato, not the Narutokintoki. It's nice for a change and as sweet potato tarts go, I'll say it's excellent.

12.5 km to Aux Bacchanales and back for Mille Feuille

Did another Ginza run to Aux Bacchanales (with two back-ups ready in mind), which actually had several cakes (all familiar). It was 6.6 km there and 5.9 km back and I ran exactly the same time for both, within .04 s of each other, which is weird, but I suppose not that weird, since the numbers aren't random. I decided to give up on measuring small distance (on the order of 1 km) when I'm not on a track: too time consuming. Instead, I just have to run the hilly parts faster or make up time elsewhere. The outbound was fast and the return was moderate, both of which I'm happy with. I expect to rest (well, not really; actually, I have an exhaustingly lot of things planned) the next couple days and then I'm taking Monday off to run (as well as other things, perhaps), and then rest up to two days after that, since my knee is still not happy, but only to a certain extent (it hates walking the most, especially walking after running, and the beginning of running, but doesn't get worse and hasn't bothered me at home).

The cake was Mille Feuille for 465 yen. Yeah, it's not an expensive place, even in Ginza. This mille feuille has raspberries, which is a first for me I think. I like mille feuille and I liked this one. It was good, but I can't say that it was better than that, so calling Aux Bacchanales excellent rather than great probably is fair and I'll update the map.

Aux Bacchanales

Today's run was to Aux Bacchanales in Ginza, which I decided had been unfairly booted from the list of potentially great cake shops. Started out 3.5 km fast despite my left knee. Even if my left knee is not happy, I can go faster by increasing my pace, not my stride length. I took it slow the next 0.95 km to the Inner Moat because there was a hill and I can never make the main traffic lights anyway. Along the main part of the south stretch of the inner mode, I did 1.1 km at a moderate speed. Then I did 1.0 km at racing speed, first just to make the next light and then just to continue until I got to Yamanote Line. From there, I went to Aux Bacchanales, got my cake, and got home, which was another 5.5 km achieved at a moderate space by keeping my pace fast (at least outside Ginza), which carrying cake does not really interfere with, although being tired does. So about .9 very slow, 6.6 moderate, 3.5 fast, and 1.0 racing speed, for a total of 12.0 km, which isn't too bad, but I'm going to need more the next few days to keep my weekly total up.

The cake was a Fraisier au Citron Vert, which is a strawberry custard cake, with icing, flavored with lime, for 465 yen. I forgot/didn't bother to take the ice pack out when I put it in the refrigerator, so it got really cold, which might not have been good for it, but didn't stop me from enjoying it and made it easy to cut the icy strawberries all the way through. The cake part was so moist that it was not that different from the custard part, but I was fine with that. Also, very sweet, which also worked with what is a sort of standard cake (without the lime flavor, which I was not conscious of) and so could be boring. I am surprised to find this excellent, so I guess Aux Bacchanales remains in the running for great. The hard part will be to get more cake, since they don't have many types to begin with and they literally only had two pieces, and I was there fairly early for a workday. I'll have to make sure that I have a backup place next time I go, or conversely that I always check there first rather than someplace else in the area that I'm less worried about selling out.

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.

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.

10+ km to Aux Bacchanales: Trianon

I didn't calculate the exact distance but I went through Yotsuya and up and down hills and got a little lost (although I'm not sure that I took any different path than if I had a map), so let's call it 10+ km and leave it at that. My knees were still a little sore. I think I need to start doing some speed training and sprinting rather than just hills, to break up the weekday runs. Maybe I'll try around Gaien first, since that's short. I need a loop so I don't have to stop for lights (which are also a danger to life anyway). I suppose I'll use my flip phone to time. Now I'm interested in the iWatch, or whatever it is, but I'm sure the price will cure me of that.

So the goal (successfully reached, and still no rain) was Aux Bacchanales. This is more of a cafe (a busy one), and not every branch has regular cake, but the Ginza store does [but quit since the original post], with a separate wait person. I first ended up there when Dalloyau failed me. Before that, I mostly ignored it because (a) it seemed ubiquitous and (b) the one nearest me doesn't do most cake, just fancy bread and is a big cafe/bar in a rich area. I've updated only the shops in this old map.

This is a Trianon (トリアノン). I've lost the receipt, but the website says that the cake was 515 yen, so 556 with tax. I think I paid about 550 yen, so close enough. On a dacquoise (base almond/hazelnut meringue layer: ダコワーズ) base, supposedly there is crushed crepe (フイティーヌ), praline cream, and chocolate mouse in there layers. Of course, there is chocolate coating and you can see pieces of I assume chocolate, which the official description calls fichinu (フイチーヌ), which, like much of the description, Google translate wants nothing to do with. Again, I need a Japanese-French to anything (Japanese, French, or English) dictionary to figure out what most of these terms actually mean, and it has to be flexible for the Japanese spelling, since it doesn't seem to be standardized for all terms.

This cake is a success. It's chocolate cake, with layers of mouse and layers of cream and all is chocolaty, but not overpoweringly, and the almond on top gives away that some of this is almond base. The base is moist yet a little crunchy. It is great cake, so I think of this as a great shop, and it's not their only great cake, according to memory. Comparing this shop's cake with other places' is one of my ultimate goals.