Sweet Satsuki: Satsuki

Sweet Satsuki: Satsuki

Had the afternoon free, so I took a long run. First, I went down to Sweet Satsuki in Himonya, Meguro-ku, which is not so far off my usual route to Jiyugaoka and got their Satsuki (~500 yen). It's a tiny shop with only a few fresh cakes. The cake was nice enough, completely competent, if nothing particular exciting: good, but not something to set them apart. It's a little neighborhood shop in the middle of a residential neighborhood, so it's probably hard for them to be much more. That part of the run was 9 km/h for 9 km, which is not bad given that my hips hurt from the beginning due to falling over backwards Sunday. Both my hips and my neck (from trying unsuccessfully to keep me from wacking the back of my head on the asphalt) are much better for the run.

La Base Secrète du GAMIN: Croissant

I went way further south than I needed to (by more or less exactly the route that I'll need to do for maybe the next new shop, which is further south) before turning to Jiyugaoka to check for new or sought after great cakes, though they were down two from last time: I only found 1 total. I went up to Sakarushinmachi for the same reason and still did not find the one cake I'm looking for there. From there, I linked up to the green path that runs near La Base Secrète du GAMIN, where I got a Croissant for 280 yen that was excellent, even though it was the mostly bread-like kind with just a couple millimeters of pastry outside.

Due to just the way the lights were, I ending up coming back north along Yamanote for much of the run, after avoiding major roads. At least Yamanote allows a pretty good separation from the road to run, even if it is still pretty noisy. The typhoon  rain did not start until almost exactly 3 km out (there's a long light there, so it's not an unlikely place for anything weather event). Finally, my hat was useful, to keep me dry. From Satsuki to home was about 20 km at 8 km/h, which I blame on heat, distance, and navigation, but it's a fine speed for any run over 20 km total after 3 days off.

Sunday run (2) to Jun Ujita

(continued, due to blogger label length restrictions)

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.