Local nonstop run and Hugo & Victor

Had some things to do at home, so kept the run simple and short: a nonstop run exploring south. Repeating a loop around the Tokyo gymnasium, before using the subway tunnel for the National Stadium Station to get over to in front of the former National Stadium (demolished) and loop around that construction site, as well as whatever the next block south is, which may be cheating, since they will presumably restart the traffic lights when they get the new construction sorted out, I could continue on to the A1 exit, which finally got me to a nonstop connection to JR Shinanomachi Station, which I didn't take up, since that opens up a lot of new possibilities in Yotsuya. Total run was 45'. I'm not sure how practical the subway route was, but it was pretty dead, so I did not bother anyone much running through at 7:30 pm on Dec 29. We'll see how practical that is other days and maybe later after the stadium is rebuilt. Weekends would presumably be more busy.



Hugo & Victor: George Amado

The cake was from Hugo and Victor, which is a new counter at Isetan. I got the George Amado (?), which is chocolate on the outside and mostly vanilla Bavarian cream with a relatively small amount chocolate mousse on a soft chocolate biscuit, with a walnut half, for 756 yen. This is what was left over and is a "new" cake for them, although they just opened last month or so, and is nothing special, certainly nothing to justify the price. I'm designating them "good", since it was fine, just boring. The Isetan webpage is promoting their mille feuille, so I should give that a try before I write them off.


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.

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.

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).