Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin

Last Saturday, I got cakes for a cake-off. Due to leg problems, I went by bicycle, which doesn't seem to mind. I was looking at a fifth-round for two shops with 3 wins to only 1 loss. The first was Rhum Raisin from Éclat des Jours and the second was the Pistache Apricot from Très Calme (which also has a great Kouign Amann, if you like fairly solid ones versus more puffed up ones, which I do). It's kind of obvious what the winner is, based on my over preferences, and yet somehow the uniqueness of Rhum Raisin among my great cakes has enabled it to be in a high bracket. The need for it is less now that I have a Baba on my list, but it still has merit, I think, though I'm giving the win toe Pistache Apricot because I like pistachio cream a lot, which is well balanced, and this is a nicely solid cake as well.

Ryoura, Éclair Jardinage

Tuesday, I ran out to Youga again, this time for new cake. Even more crowded than before, with children literally stepping on me in a line that was not following social distancing, but how much can I complain about whole families crowding into a small shop (which at least was making people line up outside, but only to the point that people inside could have avoided physically touching each other, except for the little kids dashing around) when I didn't urgently need cake from there, just it was on my list and open. (If Sadaharu Aoki had been open, I would have gone there, though eventually I would have visited Ryoura again).

Backing up, I stopped for a pastry at Bigarreaux. I wanted their almond croissant, but they didn't have that. Instead, I got their Kouign Amann, which was different. It was a loosely packed, so to speak, as they go, and inside there was actual melted butter, in liquid form, which I've never had in one of these butter cakes. I'm going to have to say it was great just because I've never had another like it and it was worth having again and comparing to other types.

Back to Ryoura, I survived with no problems so far and got as my new cake one of their Éclair Jardinage, one of two types of eclair currently running, eclair being one of their regular things, and I've had an excellent one before. The major ingredients of this one, besides the pastry, are pistachio and tayberry, though there is some strawberry. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too excited by this. Maybe tayberry is too subtle for me. Still, it was good, so I'm sticking with Ryoura as a quite exceptional shop.

One note is I walked home, which was a mistake, though one I mad the day before. That time it was after quite a long run. This time, just a fairly straight run to Ryoura, but walking uses different movements and is hard on my hip and feet. The next day I jogged both ways (though to a nearer shop), which turned out much better, and I could even still run in the evening (though thunder sent me hope early).

Rue de Passy, Chocolat Pistache

When they didn't have the great cake I wanted for a cake-off two Saturday's back, not to waste the trip at a time with fewer opportunities to get cake, I choose the Chocolat Pistache, on the reasoning that the other best cake I've had from there was this combination. This was a more traditional cake, though, and was maybe cream rather than ganache, so I should have eaten it at a warmer temperature. Actually, this combination is tricky, as while pistachio can accent chocolate, the latter has a strong taste that doesn't benefit from being diluted or give way to other flavors easily, so I didn't really feel like this harmonized the best, though it was still good.

Happily, I did much better on Sunday for a cake-off, which I failed to photograph, apparently. The cake-off was a third round between two cakes from the double-loser's bracket, between Pistache Chocolat from Coffee Parlor Hilltop and Concert from Lenôtre. I learned from Saturday's mistake and let the Pistache Chocolat sit out for 5 minutes from the refrigerator. It was definitely great and the light pistachio and chocolate taste was harmonizing well, though it still lost to the chocolate simplicity of Concert.

While I was at Ginza Mitsukoshi, visited Johan and got a pastry (which used to be my favor pastry source when they were in Shinjuku). Ig to the Kouign Amann. This seems to be the traditional shape, which is not my favorite, but I felt that I was recognizing it's good points finally, as this was excellent.

Cake-off: Au Bon Vieux Temps' Pourriture over Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise

Saturday as a series of failure: Route 99 does not have fresh cake, I don't know Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop well enough to run (remembered where and why I changed part, but not how exactly and it wasn't obvious on the fly), and 1 pm is too late to get a cake at Au Bon Vieux Temps'.

Also I fell early on, so I'm got road rash and some clothes that will have to be replaced sooner. I did get a couple fresh viennoiseries, Kouign Amann and Chauson aux Pommes Caramélisées (I think) from Paris S'éveille and Sadaharu Aoki, respectively, both great.

Sunday, I had a comfortable run to Au Bon Vieux Temps, arriving at about 10:30 a.m, which is early enough, at least on a rainy Sunday, to get the cake I wanted, the Pourriture. I matched it with another recent fig cake by taking the train to Pierre Gagnaire and getting Figner Ruby Fig Framboise and coming back. After lunch I compared these and was happy to keep them on the great list (we'll see how I feel when they have to match established cakes). I decided I liked the simplicity of the Pourriture, though that means the other cake is the one that's available from a cake-off against the JPH late-October traditional cake, which is was a little worried about, since I didn't have anything else available for that role. I also expect a first-round cake off next week, so that might produce another candidate.

Afternoon was riding around, verifying no great cakes as a couple shops and taking a few pictures and verifying a few shops around the southeast periphery of the established course. Evening was a full indoor workout.

Maison D'ahni, Béret Pistache

Wednesday, I had pretty sore feet all morning and knew it was time to take a rest day, which I hadn't this week. And yet, I'm an addict, so by evening I wanted to run and didn't stop myself. I ran to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs again, hoping from something from Sadaharu Aoki, but instead of 4 people in line, there were more than 14, so I gave up. Instead, I went for a third pastry from Le Pain de Joel Robuchon, this time choosing the Kouign Amann. It was the usual but excellent, so no complaints (I didn't eat it then, obviously, but after dinner, after which I was really full).

I worked on confirming my knowledge of the neighborhood course. I failed on the Minami-Aoyama--Shibuya loop but succeeded on the Minami-Aoyama south loop. However, it was a net loss in that, on the way back, I recognized a shop that should be added to the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, though what kind of chocolate shop is empty of customers February 13? I won't be surprised to find it closed next time I go by, as it seems a hopeless case. Nevertheless, for now, I need to relearn that loop and I'll probably keep the new loop even if it does close.

Thursday, February 14, I followed by plan to rest. I had pain in my left thigh, which was new. Now sure how that happened or how to avoid it.

Friday, a tentatively good shop that I've only had one cake from visited Isetan, so I decided to give them a second chance early. I got the Béret Pistache, which is a pistache mousse dome with a milk chocolate center. It was reasonably good, but definitely not anything that excited me, so that will probably be my list trip there.

In good news, Blondir in the next visiting shop. They are only potentially quite good, but I've reviewing the quite good shops and they are one of the less conveniently located (I took care of the worse last weekend and plan to handle the next most distant one this weekend). Now if Ces Jours would just visit.

Actually, before eating my cake Friday, I did another neighborhood course run. This time I did the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu and Nishi-Azabu northwest loops counterclockwise, but successfully, so that puts me over 40 km of loops confirmed both directions. I still want another 10 km before any major additions, though I might fill in the Shibuya east loop before that, and while I'm at it go for some more loops in the Shibuya area.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille-Feuille Caramel Pomme

Still catching up, Sunday I went out reasonably early to do a one-way neighborhood course run. I had just found a neglected area, Roppongi 7, which is just across southwest from Tokyo Midtown, so relatively close. I had missed the crosswalk down near the National Art Center, Tokyo. There is not a whole lot there, but they have a park, a cake shop, a bakery, a shrine, a couple temples, and a couple shrines in a compact area. It's possible to cross over to the northeast end of Nishiazabu, but I can't find any sites there that I would visit.

From there, I left the course and went exploring for future runs.  On the way, I stopped for a pasty at Maison Landemaine. I went to the location at Azubudai, across from the southeast end of the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, there should be one already on that loop, further north that I haven't visted yet. I got their Kouign Amann, which was ribons of pastry folded into the usual hockey puck shape, with a hard caramelized layer on top. Very fancy, and good, but did not really work for me. In generally, their pastries are pretty expensive.

For future runs, first I went over to finish photographing sites on the Shibakouen--Toranomon west and east loops, and then moved on to Atago and Toranomon. These are all going to be small loops, since this is a really urban area surrounded by main streets, though there are enough pedestrian bridges and crosswalks without signals to get me just south of Hibiya Park to the north. To get east, I'll have to go south through Shiba Park, though it can't really advance very far, so this branch is going to come to and end unless I can turn south.

There was cake, but I screwed up sort of (I checked my list, but a hyphen through off my alphabetization) and got a repeat, Mille-feuille Caramel Pomme. Last time I rated it good, which is understandable, but this time I was more in a mille-feuille mood and would call it excellent, so I didn't mind the mistake so much.

Monday, I took a rest from running and cake, but went to Isetan and visited Hediards and got their Domestic Wheat Kouign Amann (if I've got the name right), which was a more conventional version, which I thought was excellent.

Heritage: Miroir

Monday I cycled up to Heritage to get a fifth cake from a shop on the excellent list. I chose Miroir, which is chocolate around pistachio and raspberry (I think) and Bavarian cream, sort of a standard thing, really. Unfortunately, as is often with these types chocolate mousse with cream filling cakes, it didn't really add up to much. No specific complaint other than boring taste, which is sort of the greatest complaint, but for what it was, I don't think they did anything bad. Still, Heritage is look more quite good than excellent after five cakes, so it might not make it to six.

I ran for the first time for more than a week, just around the Yotsuya 3/4-choume area loop, for 17 minutes. It seemed okay (though that was true 3 weeks ago for longer distances) and, more significantly, didn't get me special trouble the next day, so I can try longer, and may need to if the choice is between cycling or running in rain (or no cake).

Actually, I forgot the Japanese phonetics of the name before I left Monday, so I cycled up there again Tuesday and then took the long way down to Mermaid Cafe near Daikanyama Stn. on my neighborhood course down south, which took more than 90 total, so I didn't try to run again too. I got the Kouign Amann as something different. It was like other cheap ones and seemed a little worse for wear for the late hour, but had a very butterscotch-flavored caramelized layer that was working for me, so I would say that it was good (but I forgot to take a picture).

Cake-off: Rue de Passy's Opera Pistache over Jean-Paul Hévin's Salomé

Still not happy with my left foot (though it's not worse or as bad as last Monday), but I'll be resting from running for a few days. Wednesday night, I managed to get the Yoyogi Park Stn. area before 7 pm, but Donkey closed early (didn't read the handwritten sign on the door closely to find out why), Path said no take-out (I should have asked whether that was true just that evening, every evening, or all the time, but I was in a hurry to move on), and 15 degC looked like the closest they sell to pastries are muffins (I also checked in at fraoula, just to see what they might have, but they weren't open either). I wasn't really expecting to be in time to get anything there anyway, so I went with the original plan and got something at Toukyuu Dept. Store from Deux Magots Paris, Ringo Kouign Amann, which was definitely good and my idea of a pastry, but I don't need fruit in my Kouign Amann.

Thursday morning, I did a run down to P. Rue de Passy to get Pistache Opera (or at least that's how I've blogged it previously, but I thought in the shop that it was Opera Pistache, which does use the Japanese phonetics for the latter on their blog) as a match for another seasonal Jean-Paul Hévin cake, Salomé. This is a second-round cake-off, both having won their first rounds. These both have chocolate but otherwise are opposite, which may or may not be good for cake-offs (I used to try harder to match up likes, but not so much recently). The opera is very heavy and nutty, obviously, and the Salomé is very light, with the vanilla mousse dominating and being chiboust-like. Maybe as usual, I regret not eating this a little slower, savoring each bite more, as it's a little subtle. Today, though, I went with the heavy opera as the winner, which reminded me of cakes I associate with Germany and parts east rather than France, so I guess I'll be making another trip to Passy de Rue for a new cake soon.

[Sat] Limevert: Noir Chocolat

Saturday was another long research ride. I tried the technique of asking, which rarely works (Hidemi and Viron it did, but those are pretty high-end with long histories, so I'm not surprised that the staff has some knowledge of the schedule, unlike part-time staff at less famous places). Also, I spent a lot of time lost from not trying to follow a particular path; too many rivers make too few straight roads, so on a cloudy day, it's easy to get turned around. More than once I had to reverse course once I realized where I was, but at least I never completed loop myself. Need to find out about mounting a smartphone with a map app to my bicycle.

At Limevert, I got the Noir Chocolat, which is dark chocolate with some nuts over chocolate mousse with probably Bavarian cream flavored by earl grey. It was well composed and so should perhaps have been excellent, but perhaps because I have a lot of chocolate, I couldn't say that this was interesting enough that I would want to make it even if I could, which is my working definition of excellent cake (not that I've done any baking at all lately, which is a problem, because I have two eggs at the limit of their usability, perhaps: 3 months past "expiration"). Although not pretty, I'm including a half eaten version so that the inside is visible. I'll without hold that from Twitter version and would certainly not post that to Instagram (which I've yet to post to, since I don't have a smartphone, but see the above related remark to guess my future shopping plans).

As almost the last shop (I stopped at the Ginza Mitsukoshi on the way back), I also got a pasty from Éclat des Jours for the first time, a Kouign Amann. This was usual, in that what would usually be a single solid crystal of caramelize sugar was instead left almost completed granular, melted only just enough to make it stick together. I'm not convinced that its a better idea, but its was interesting to try. Also, this seemed like the saltiest puff pastry I've ever had, though not to a point of being a problem.

Jean François: Kouign Amann

Today was a no cake day, at least a no fresh cake: I still got a snack. I ran, somewhat fast (because it was somewhat hot) to Ginza 6 by a not so direct route, a little under 6 km at a little over 10 km/h. Coming back was 9 km/h, as I dealt with a less familiar route that took be through Hibiya Park and also shopping.

I got a Kouign Amann from Jean François at Ginza 6, opened this year. Jean François is a Viennoiserie, which means sweet breads, though they have plain walnut bread, so I'm not sure what counts. I'd really like to see some breakdown of baked goods from fancy fresh cakes down to breads. This cake/pastry/bread was, I think, excellent, though I'm highly biased toward it. It was sort of the middle of the spectrum as far as the balance between crisp flaky and soft parts, as these things go, much like croissant (no special center, but there was some caramelization on the bottom.

Henri le Roux (Tokyo Midtown): Kouign Amann Yuzu Matcha

Took a short run to Tokyo Midtown for the first time in a long while to visit the Henri Le Roux there, where they have kouign amann. Round trip, it's only about 6 km total, and was on the low side of 9 km/h (I don't count the vertical distance from using the pedestrian overpass twice, which is about 40 steps high). As the seasonal flavor, they just changed over to the Yuzu Matcha (powdered green tea). These are small but only 324 yen. This one was only okay. I might have gone with "good", but I was not fond of the green tea aftertaste. The yuzu was particularly detectable over the caramel taste. On the other hand, I count this as a pastry, so it does not penalize them as a great cake shop.

More importantly, I've been wrong about them: they do have cake at the Midtown store (although getting it before it sells out is a separate issue), which of course they do: they have an eat-in space. This evening, they only had one cake left around 19:30, but I should have noticed before that they have cake (the hard part is not noticing, it's retaining any memory after running). The more important information for me is they have a supposedly exclusive cake there that is only available as eat in (and is 900+ yen), so I'll definitely go back. I was planning to go to Midtown for dining over the next holiday weekend already, but I'm going to want to change the target now to them.

Tomorrow is baking, although it might just be canele to free up some eggs whites, though really I want brownies: too many competing recipes.

Running and not quite cake from Henri le Roux

After trying to get 乳化気泡剤 at Takashimaya (they looked and didn't act like it was a crazy request, although Google thinks it's a typo for 乳化起泡剤), I went home and changed into running clothes---and actually ran, for the first time in more than 3 weeks and longer than I've run in at several weeks (which ended badly). Not sure how far I ran, but I ran 20 minutes in intervals of 1 minute separated by 1 minute of running, so I'll call it 2.5 km. Probably, 16 minutes would have been enough, but I'm okay for now (except my left arm is telling me maybe it was too soon yesterday for doing even a little light strength training, but that's not the fault of running). Not sure what my limit should be. I had been thinking 5 km in a week last time I tried to start, but I do that much not slow walking on a typical day, so I could probably start with 10 km, but 20 km would definitely be the limit and I'm going to ramp up slower than ever before in both speed and distance, if I get the chance. Still, did you know that the

The not quite cake was a Kouign Amann, which I consider a pastry. They have them at Midtown Tokyo, for 324 yen, and each one has a caramel in the center. I've only had great ones (not sure if that exactly corresponds to great cake). Previously, I've had the chocolate and C.B.S. (salted butter caramel), which they always have, so this time I got the third, which was Pina Colada, despite the visible coconut. It too was great.

Sunday: Ryoura, Extreme

Sunday was cycling. First, I tried to visit A Tes Souhaits! But I arrived around noon (they open at 11) on Mother's Day (if that mattered), so there were a few dozen people in line and it sounded like they were warning new people that they couldn't promise they wouldn't sell out. I hadn't prepared and I need to update my map in that area, so the only places I knew were Jun Honma, which I didn't want to visit again, and L'Epicurien, which wouldn't begin selling cake until 13:00. I'm not sure whether that is just a Sunday thing, but the closest thing to an official website lists 13:00 as opening time now, although the door isn't locked, so they might sell you something besides fresh cake. It was obnoxious, but now I'm curious to go back. If I had remembered, I would have gone to Arcachon, in the basement at the station. Maybe I would have tried the Joshi+ recommended café Patisserie Tigre, although my plan is to skip this one. I was on a bicycle, so I gave up on the north and went down to Ryoura in Yoga, which is not close, but closer than home and a little closer to home and anyway in a more familiar area of town.

I got the Extreme for 560 yen. It's not really that extreme, although it has some sort of famous brandy in it. It's a little unstable for eating outside (very narrow and the layers tend to separate) but it was excellent chocolate cake. I'd enjoy having it again, although I could not say for sure that it was great, so I'll consider Ryoura an excellent shop and get around to having a third cake there after I've visited the great shops a little more (at least the less frequented ones that actually have more cakes that I haven't tried).

I was out riding for about four hours, so it did not seem overly greedy to also visit Bigarreaux, which is the excellent shop nearby that I'm much more familiar with. I got Le (?) Kouign Amann, which is not a French cake, although I've never seem one that was spiral, so this was quite different for cakes of this name, although the general flavor was still Kouign Amann, just no filling.
It was 300 yen and also excellent.

Cycling to Paris S'éveille

Thought I needed some exercise, so I took a trip down to the hardest to reach definitely great cake shop (knock on wood), but forgot to bring their card with the list of things I've posted on. I almost gave up and went to one of the four recommended but unvisited places out that way (although, only one of those was on my portable map, and one was misplaced on my Google map).

I was fairly sure that I had never had Tarte Pomme Yuzu, so I got that for 540 yen. Used my phone camera again, which really is not bright enough for outside (something to think about next time I get a new phone, since it's not bright enough outside all the time). As the name implies, this is a tart with apple and yuzu. It was well constructed and the flavors balanced well, or they would if I liked yuzu more. This was a harder call than yesterday's pistachio and cherry, but I'll still say that this was excellent. I'm not sorry for having had it and would be curious to have it again, but hopefully shared with someone, along with something less citrus sour.

The need for the exercise goes back to having made brownies, using my brioche forms (which I just bought 3 more of). When fresh, I would call these excellent, although the problem is that they don't stay fresh. And they don't say uneaten: I scarfed three of these down last night. I'm already making half a batch, so I'm just gong to have to freeze them and figure out how to defrost them so that they are still excellent. Anyway, I also need to experiment with baking time amount per form (this was half a batch, 100 g sugar and 1 egg worth, in 6 forms). Also, instead of coating in powdered sugar (which is great), I'll try frosting them with cream cheese frosting (or just cream cheese would probably be good).

In the afternoon, I went for a walk through the Shinjuku Station area department stores looking for something like what was in this wrapper, namely, dark chocolate with nibs. No luck. Actually, I don't know where to search for good chocolate in Tokyo. Tried to stop at &Market coming back from Jiyugaoka today, and found that they had ended their relationship with Bonnat (although their store front sign is still has them as a kind of subtitle to &Market). This particular by Mobar was 500 yen, which seemed really expensive in Indonesia to the buyer. If I google Monggo, besides their website, I find posts of people saying why is this so expensive in Indonesia, though not about this particular variety. To me, this was great, enough that I was searching (although not enough to stand in line to get inside Jean-Paul Hévin in Iseitan).

Finally, Kouign Amann from Fauchon. Usually, I would go to Shinjuku Takashimiya (which is actually in Shibuya-ku), but I picked this up in Keio. It was okay. In evaluating cake shops, it's hard to know whether to call this cake or bread, but I guess I should keep it as bread and evaluate shops based on their fresh cakes.

Visit to Jiyugaoka and P. la Glycine

Rain cleared up earlier than it might have and I was able to get out by noon in sunny late-spring/early-summer weather (with heavy wind). I took my usual route, which Google says is 11.3 km and it took me 1:08'27'', which is 6.06 min/km, moderate speed, which is as fast as I do long runs, although in this case I didn't try to maintain the pace.

At Jiyugaoka, I went to Paris S'éveille to get a croissant for 250 yen, which was fine although not special, and a Kouign Amann, which was great again, despite not being fresh from the oven this time. I ate these just in the little strip park that runs in front of Origines Cacao, which was perhaps a mistake, because I'm finding mosquito bites. Apparently, I need mosquito repellent in February now, at least if there are a couple warm days in a row (although I've seen them around my door even when it was just above average warm in winter).

Next, I ran to P. La Glycine, which was not exactly where I thought it was (and Google thinks it is). Until now, I had been visiting the French deli next door. Now that I know where to look, it's hard to miss; I'll try again going there at night. The run took 43'32'' and covered 6.4 km, which is 6.8 min/km. I was trying for faster than that, but there are other people out walking and hills to climb.

Coming home, I got turned around, so I just tried to climb (to get up to Old Yamanote Road) and then take my usual way back, but I ended up going through Shibuya Station (literally), before catching up with Aoyama Road. Google's estimate of my best guess of what route I used is 6.2 km, and my estimate of how long it took is 41' (I caught myself running with the chronometer stopped), which means 6.6 min/km, still very slow, but suspiciously faster with the cake than without it.

So my weekly running is, in 3 days, 47 km comprising 22.6 km moderate, 11.4 km slow, and 12.6 km very slow, compared to last week in 4 days 34 km comprising 8 km moderate and 26 km very slow. That's faster than maybe I should be ramping up the moderate-speed running and I would have liked to have gotten in more than three days running and another few kilometers of very slow. I've heard, don't increase more than 10% per week, but that can't apply to getting back into running after an injury (10% more of zero is still zero), so instead I'm thinking that my maximum was about 100 km a week before and 50 km for one day. Since I figure subtract 1% per day inactive and it's been 4 weeks since my injury, maybe 70-75 km is enough for next week and I can try to increase 10% from there after that. Similarly, next week I'll try for 30-35 km for next Saturday, if that is my maximum run, and raise that to 35-40 km the next week, which should both be enough for the next two History and Culture courses that I want to do, even with cake detours.

Finally, the cake for today: I got Mistral (which means "masterly", but is the French name of a particular type of strong cold northwesterly wind) for 600 yen. This is pistachio mousse, in which I think there is cherry liquor (having trouble with the translation, but it's definitely cherries, and they've definitely been pickled or fomented), but also some chocolate crunch. I choose this despite the cherries because it was the one marked "recommended" (by the "Chef"). It's not a big shop, so there was not a huge choice, but enough for me to go back. Since I've been badmouthing them because I couldn't look as far as the next building to find them, I may be feeling generous, but I liked this, so I'll say it is excellent and mark the shop as "worthy" of further special attention.

Since I got this shop from Sweet Sonobe, I'll need to start exploring that blog further for recommendations.

33.4 km. Meguro-Den'enchofu H&C: Origines Cacao

Today's run was on the Meguro-Den'enchofu History and Culture route. Actually, I started at the new route start point, whereas my map is for the old map, as best I can figure, so I timed maybe a few tens of meters less of route, but since I spent 1.05 km in double-backs this time due to differences between the new and old maps, it's not a big issue. Next time (and I like this route, both for running and for where it takes me, quite a bit, so I expect a next time), I'll check out the marker at Meguro Station that I spotted with Google Street View and see where both today's route and the route from yesterday should go if I follow the old route shown on markers, which is my preference. I also used Street View to find a marker that I missed on today's run, and I could even see why I missed it: the shop in front of it likes to put out banners that would block the view coming up to it on the route.

Total run breaks down into 7 km to get to the start point, 11.9 km for the route itself (see above comment about approximately 1 km more in deviations), and 14.5 km back by way of Origines Cacao and Cuoca (a baking supply store on the first floor of the same building). Times for the three parts were 45'45'', 1:25'46'', and 1:39'47'' for a total of 3:51'18''. Given yesterday's run, the times seem okay. The first part was also slow because I didn't want to press it anyway before I got to a main route that I'm keeping track of the best time for, and the last part, besides cake, I had 1 kg of powdered sugar in my backpack, so I was additionally motivated to take it easy and not mess up my back again. 

It was colder today and I started earlier, so I put on a heavier windbreaker and wore thicker gloves (gloves that I had forgotten about). 

With yesterday's run, I estimate that I did just short of 74 km for Saturday and Sunday, which is a personal record. The right knee seemed to be the weak point again, although it held together. Actually, it's probably not the knee's fault. I'm doing more stretching of my legs, especially the right side, and now my feet (it's not really the running that seems to be the problem there initially, but the business shoes: I've got to make sure I exercise more my toe and foot muscles, as well as stretch my Achilles tendon). I guess next would be either 55 km in one day or break 80 km in two days, although I won't try the latter if I do the former. Unfortunately, next weekend I scheduled the gas company inspection for 3 pm Saturday, so I have to plan around that. Also, Wed. is a holiday (Japanese emperor's birthday), so balancing out my running is more complicated this week. Maybe I'll run again tomorrow night, skip Tue night, run moderately Wed and Thu, skip Fri, and get up early for a long run Saturday to some distant H&C route. 



Origines Cacao: Lyonnaise

On to cake: today's cake from Origines Cacao was Lyonnaise for 497 yen. This was very good. According to the description, it's chocolate mousse and raspberry ganache and mousse. I'm not sure how the last "mousse" works in, but there visible raspberry in the center, and also the bottom mousse layers seemed to have raspberry in it (raspberry flavor lingers, so it's hard to tell). As I said, it is very good, for a pile of mousse, which is very different from yesterday's cake. Also, I read the card on the Quiza that made me put Origines Cacao on review for its greatness designation, and it explained that the flavor was light intentionally, which was supposed to make the aftertaste more refreshing; maybe I should give it another try some time, but I've probably got enough great cakes recorded that I won't get around to that anytime soon.

The snack of the day (it's a long run) was a Kouign Amann (no picture) for 320 yen from Paris S'éveille. A huge tray had just been put out at, apparently (since they were warm and it was full), so it's worth knowing that this was just before 10:51, because this was so delicious: a flaky pastry around a still warn and soft lump of butter and sugar. It really hit the spot about 20 km in, although maybe just slight heavy for running.

22 km day off loop run.

The rain mostly stopped and I got in a long run with only a vague plan. I went by Avancons, but decided that my expectations were not that high, so why bother and continued on to Aigre-Douce. There I got the Caramel Chocolate Brownie. After I ordered it, I noticed that it had coffee (and why? Does the pistachio cake have tobacco mixed in, you know, for the flavor?), but didn't back out. After all, maybe the coffee makes it better. Well, it did not kill it, but it did not really make it good, so I'll just leave it as a cake for someone else (caramel and chocolate sounds good, but only if the caramel is fairly sweet, and no coffee, please). I don't remember how much it was, but probably around 500 yen plus tax. They have another chocolate, which I'll try another time. They were really busy for a Monday afternoon, though. Lots of people making big orders, so my cake was already melting by the time they got around to closing the box.

Next, I went to Fraoula, because I could, although I did not do much better. I got their chocolate, the Tomoe, for 453 yen. On the one hand, it was nice to have chocolate without the coffee. It has rum as well, apparently, although I could not taste it. I'm not sure what to call this type of cake. It's not baked, but it's more granular than a mousse but isn't fudge dense. It's kind of a standard texture, so there's probably a good name for it. Ultimately, it did not work for me, although whatever the rum was doing worked, as there was not a problem with too strong a chocolate taste, just its sort of a lot of one flavor that is not enough. It's pretty and I like the macrons, but I don't need it. It would be good to split with someone and have with tea or wine (although there is no space for a cafe there).

I looked around for a third cake, although I had not intended to visit anywhere else. I swung by Takagi and passed from not knowing what to get, went to Toshi Yoroizuka, but they did not have the cake that I had in mind, and so I ended up going to Henri le Roux, which like Toshi Y. is in Tokyo Midtown, but is actually a caramelier, if that is the right word for a master maker of caramels, the only one that I know. They have some little cakes too, which are also available at their Isetan counter, but the draw for the Midtown store is the Kouign Amann. I got the chocolate and C.B.S. (salt butter caramel). These are definitely great, especially the C.B.S. It's sort of croissant-like as far as being flaky and buttery, but of course there is caramel inside, so it's also chewy, not dry. Next time I'll maybe get the C.B.S. again and try the pineapple. These are 324 yen per, so like little cakes.