Toshi Yoroizuka: Jungfrau

Yesterday, I did reconnaissance for cakes I had planned doing a cake-off with today, as well as other visits which did not give any new information. Along the way, in a park, I ate a Croissant from Bigarreaux that was fluffy but with a sugar coating on the outside, I think. This was done by bicycle over about 3 hours. In the afternoon, I did an hour or so of neighborhood running, but it's a little hazy now, but the photo evidence is that I was working on the east part.

Today, I started in the opposite direction but realized before crossing Meiji Doori that I didn't have enough cash with me for a cake-off. That made me reevaluate what my priority should be and instead I explored a proposed western Harajuku route first before swinging back to the extreme southeast neighborhoods (running the opposite direction as yesterday) and finding that I really don't know that route well yet, so I'll have to work on it more this week (at least one day will be Isetan, so that shouldn't be a problem, except that it is a little far even going the most direct route). I ended at Midtown, after about 90 minutes of running, and mostly walked back with a Jungfrau, which seems to be a Swiss version of a Mont-Blanc, though I don't know what's in it besides the usual whipped cream under chestnut paste and chestnuts. Inside the cream were pieces of actual cake sponge, which I think were the source of a ginger flavor. The base was a very interesting meringue cookie, very thick (around 1 cm at most), which was baked to a quite dark outside but white on the inside. It was definitely good but not really good enough to keep Toshi Yoroizuka in the top 7. Before I officially demote them, though, I'll see whether either of the top contenders, Bien-être or Éclat des Jours, can do as well with the same number of cakes.

La Vie Douce: Ginger

Trying to make this quick, I hit my last Excellent shop for a fourth cake: Ginger at La Vie Douce. The run was all the neighborhood courses that I've learned (mostly) so far, despite changing them almost every time to include parts I've never run before. I'm fine on the SW of Yotsuya 3-chome course, so I finished that one last, no problem, but the big challenge was the Yotsuya 3-chome, which is 10.3 km. Of course, a large part of that is a connector running along the north side of Jingue Gaien, which could be its own loop, only all it has is one park and one exit into a deadend loop (no other bridges out). The Under Shinjuku Gyoen loop was not really run as planned (long actually), but not in any part that matters. It's not a deadend, so I'll try it again and see whether the construction actually allows me to do the post map (once the new street goes, the west part is going to get cut off, but the connector south will still be there, so no problem). Overall, it was about 19 km at a slow 9 km/h, which is pretty good for how uncertain I was, how long it was, and how many stairs and steep slopes there are.

The Ginger cake was good. Even though it's a dome, it's not mousse or a lot of cream, but fairly stiff cake (maybe dacquoise), which is what I like. Besides raw ginger, which was not the strong (the outer layer is just a few millimeters), there was orange compote inside, along with the cake. It was definitely good cake, but I'm going to have to denote the shop down to Quite Good. I've got to keep checking there for when they make Chiboust Yuzu again. It could be never.

Now that I'm caught up on old shops (not counting ones that I promoted), I should start visiting new shops, occasionally, for instance a couple that I've put on my Neighborhood Map that I've posted on. For Sunday, though I plan to follow up on the more distant ones that I got from Joshi Plus (which seems to be out of the business as far as new posts) and Sweet Sonobe (who seems to have been outside of the country recently).

Jean-Paul Hévin: Mendiant Exotique

Last Sunday was my big run and it was a failure: I got a pain on the outside of my left hip and stopped running and walked to the station and came home. Never had a problem there before that I recall, but it was pretty discouraging for any more ambitious runs, which I have had in mind. Perhaps I could have worked out the pain in the field and continued, but I don't have much experience with that and I do have experience with injuries that grounded me for weeks or months, so I decided better safe than sorry. Possible reasons: insufficient warm up (almost always), no specific stretches for that area, although my stretch for avoiding runner's knee might be related if taken to an extreme to stretch the entire left side (and I'm not sure how to just stretch a little of it), since it seems to be either a muscle or a tendon problem (not a joint pain); I was running too fast, being in a hurry from the begin to not finish too late (the 10 km/h that I timed was at 10 km/h, and I didn't feel that I was slowing down); although I've run that far before, I usually have a lot more breaks for stop signals, checking the map, and cake, but I ran mostly along a river path for the first half and rarely stopped and then I was pretty far out, so not that many stop lights and I never got a chance to stop for cake in the 30 km I ran (a few of those unnecessary, as I made a couple wrong turns).

So my plan is to cut down on the running, add some additional stretches, do proper warm-ups and do actual training runs (versus just challenge runs). If that goes well, I'll repeat a long distance that I've already completed successfully before trying to tackle the same route that defeated me this time (but slower, without the wrong turns, and with more breaks). If I still can't make it, then it's time to finally buy a new bicycle for those 100 km dream courses out to the far edges of Tokyo.

Monday, I rested, except for streches, but went to Jean-Paul Hévin because their stuff is so good and there are still so many non-cake things there that I've never had. This time, I tried the Mendiant Exotique (433 yen), which is a dark chocolate disk with fig, ginger, almond, and pistachio. I ate it in one bite and it was excellent, probably better than most cakes, so I don't resent it for costing as much as a piece of cake. However, they do have a great cake this month only (they claimed today) that I want to try again, so I'll probably choose something to match it against this weekend in place of a really long run.

Thu-Sat: Henri le Roux [Isetan]

Got a box of caramels from Henri le Roux Isetan basement, since I had someone to share them with and I've already had all four of their "cakes" and this is the shop of the only caramélier (since he made up the term and trademarked it, reportedly). These are 162 yen each, regardless of how how many you buy.

Caramels are no substitute for cake, but they were very good. I would say that the C.B.S (Caramel au Buerre Salé) is the best, but the Chocolat and Framboise (raspberry) are also excellent if you like those flavors, and I found that I did. The Orange Gingembre (ginger) was also good, but I was not as into it, so it just seemed like candy to me. They have other flavors for caramels, although I might try their chocolates next if I feel a need to visit here again to keep up with the other great shops.

Run to Potager: Ginger Chocolate Mousse

Decided to give Potager a try, finally. They're known for vegetable sweets, and besides their versions of patisserie cakes and cookies, sell soy noodles, although maybe that's related to whatever they serve as a café besides cake. It's a little over 6 km and I could get there in about 36 minutes running. I forget whether I arrived at 7:20 or 7:30, but they had both several customers and a variety of cakes left.



Potager: Ginger Chocolate Mousse

I chose the Ginger Chocolate Mousse for 470 yen, which is in a standard chocolate mousse cake form with a cream center. The ginger seemed to be actually tiny pieces of ginger, enough to crunch a little, rather than making it a mousse like the chocolate, but it was just a slight accent rather than trying to really compete with the chocolate, despite its "abundant" use. I choose a standard form of cake which actually I often have trouble with, maybe being burned out on it, but in this case it was fine. It was not a rich chocolate or a strong chocolate, but it was not watery so I could enjoy it and the ginger (and a tea flavor accent as well, supposedly). Thus, it was successful as a run and a cake source: within my range in terms of distance and operating hours and having good cake worth the trip. I'm designating it "worthy" (for lack of a better term for shops that I'm especially interested in that aren't at the "great" level of the top places). I'm starting to reorganize my map in preparation for when I'll want to visit some shops on the map that I haven't blogged about but visited in the past.

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Regular weekday run out to Dalloyao: Rocher d'Ete

Took the usual route to Dalloyao and got a Rocher d'Ete for 594 yen. It's a tiny globe. Inside the chocolate (I assumed, although not in the description) covering is a layer (hemisphere) of vanilla mousse, then a layer of ginger and caramel cream, and caramel sauce (maybe in the base) with enough cereal to give it some crunch. Tastes like a decadent ice cream sundae, in a good way. Great cake from a great shop. I ate it in the dark in Hibiya Park, but used the flashlight on my phone to take the picture (since the flash pictures look terrible from that close). Had to eat it like an ice cream cone because my fork bag had fallen out (in my room, so I didn't litter it somewhere).

The demos continue against changing the constitution (or reinterpreting it) to allow wider military action. I might have run through a police blockage next to the PM's residence, but they had lots of time to stop me (and enough men to block my way). There is a kind of hill that runs up one side, but the demo was staying on the top on the other side. Often the street is closed, but usually you can use the far sidewalk. After running through the line of cops (which they let me do) and down the hill, I noticed at the bottom that the only other two people using the hill were two ladies with a cop escorting them. But maybe he was just helping down the hill, since they thanked him at the bottom. In any case, it was easier for everyone just to let me do my thing. Probably good that I was not carrying cake.

Ran into a big film crew in the park north of Akasaka Palace, but could get through okay. There were several vehicles of people and equipment for a nighttime shoot. I don't know if they were doing a rain scene or just had wet things down to reduce the heat. Not much security, so I assume it was just some TV drama.