It was a good run. I couldn't get started until 11:30, but it was not full summer heat and it was cloudy (looked like it was going to rain toward the end). Most of the Tokyo
route I'm familiar with and choose because I like it. The long stretch in the middle is Komazawadouri, which I've been on or across many times but have not really thought about it. It's very good; I should use it more. I made sure that I had a 500 ml bottle of sports drink and a small snack at two points along the way. Also, I started with one bottle of water and refilled once, which seemed to be about right for the current level of heat, although I needed more with the cake.
Kawazaki-shi (Kawazaki CIty), however, was very bleak mostly, along main roadways or not well-populated streets along the train line. Part of that is that I have to pick a main route to start with to get into Kanagawa, so I tend to have to stick with it because I am not close to another route that goes the right direction.
Tried some running gel on the sides around my knees. Didn't get a rash, but then my clothes were not soaked in sweat either, so it's not a good test.
At Un Petit Paquet, I got a bostock, which was cut radially, so it was a long wedge rather than a puck. Tasted like there was alcohol, which I have not noticed elsewhere. Along with all the egg and sugar, it packed quite a punch for 220 yen plus 8% tax. I also got Aria, which is the only one I got a picture of. It was 440 yen plus. It's milk chocolate mousse, praline cream, and lemon cream. It seemed like an interesting combination and I was having a hard time finding something that I thought I might like. They had the right shape of cakes (round or rectangular, not wedge; this is just my experience with cake stores; certainly, the round and rectangular ones have to be individually made, but it might have to do more with whether they are trying to make fancy cakes for your friends or cake for children and strangers). I didn't think much of it. The lemon did not do enough to make the milk chocolate and praline interesting. It had an unusually thick base (as it was soft), which seemed gingery, which is fine.
The last one had no name on the card (or the receipt), but was a large almond macaron with hazelnut cream for 440+ yen. Sliced almonds were set in the cream around the outside and the macron was mounted on a little base of cream to hold it in place as a cake. It was very good, although very sweet, so I felt like I really needed to get the taste out of mouth afterward. I wanted to do some shopping, so I was eating outside again, which is just not great after a long run; I'm just not ready for cake, I think. I need to take it straight home and try it later.
Posts
Sunday, after lunch at Dominique Ansel Bakery, I tried their Bostock. It was good in an American kind of way: excessively huge. I was busy, so no running or cake, although I did someone a favor and got a non-fresh-type chocolate cake later that I'm saving to split.
Monday I ran, but it was a pastry day. I finally got around to trying the merged Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop. It required a good deal of checking my map and is not so close (plus I stopped at Tosho Yoroizuka in Tokyo Midtown, where did not spot anything new), but the route was not completely unfamiliar. I need to try again to see whether I can cheat for the internal pedestrian bridge and enter it from rooftop garden on the way down a slope rather than having to go all the way to the bottom of the slope and then climbing up the bridge stairs. It will depend on how far that change takes me away from the entrance to the temple on that part of the route. For the pastry, I would have gone to the patisserie in the ANA hotel just north of there, but I was a little late. I was also too late for any pastries to be left at the cafe near Akasaka Stn. (they had some other things), so I tried Croissant Café at Aoyama. I went with the croissant, which by that point had been under a heat lamp for quite a while, so it was noticeably dried out. It seemed basically good but obviously not special. I walked for about 1/2 km after that, which was a mistake, but then the rain started coming down heavily and I would have appreciated getting home even a couple more minutes earlier (though I still would have been wet). It was a long run, which was fine after taking more than 48 hours off from running.
Tuesday was a run to Ginza finally to get cake. This month's feature is brulée, which was I was optimistic about, particularly the tart. I avoided timing, but it was a pretty fast run. I stopped by Viron to see if they had anything new (thing visible, so I should have asked) before running down to Ginza Mitsukoshi to visit Frédéric Cassel and get the Tarte Brulée. I'm a little confused by the description, which says that there is a vanilla buiscuit but hazelnut-flavored tart crust. I've already forgotten whether there were to separate layers to the shell. Inside, is vanilla ganache and Jivara cream (which I think is a milk chocolate cream) on top with caramelized hazelnuts. It's mild as flavors go, but still excellent. I'll try another of this series next week, I expect.
