14 km Ginza run

So my back went from agony if I moved the wrong way, specifically, trying to sit up from leaning back using the muscle on the right side, to discomfort, although it was creeping up through the day. Ran 14 km going first by Origines Cacao (which apparently closes at 8 pm, which I've now written on their card, too late for today due to working late), to Aux Bacchanales, where I decided that I should let the two cakes that I've had stand because they aren't really a great cake shop, just a cafe with a couple great cakes. Still, I want to know where the great cake is, especially if it is somewhere accessible, but I don't need to prioritize trying everything they have. So I went to Dalloyau, which took 51 min of running, but coming back was only 35 min, since I took a basically direct course. That's actual running time rather than total. So 86 min for 14 km seems pretty good under the conditions, with 35 of it carrying cake (with some strong winds, which is one hazard when cake-running).

At Dalloyau, I got L'Echiquier for 540 yen, which in France has half a little white chocolate pawn, but here they don't bother here, though I think that we get more mousse in ours, judging by the picture online from France. Anyway, it's layers of what seem to be white, milk, and dark chocolate mousse with just enough chocolate cake between to make it cake-like rather than just a mound of mousse. The top frosting is good too. Great cake from a great shop. Now, they give me a loyalty card, after I've had almost everything. Only need another 9500 yen of purchases for a free cake, or 19500 yen for lunch, or 29500 yen for dinner.

Atelier Kohta: Opera Pistachio

Managed to sleep without making my back worse. Still bad, but it's localized to the right side and doesn't hurt if I don't need to pull forward on the right (so I need to keep upright sitting; also sneezing is not recommended). I'll rest from running today, but maybe try to do simple stretching inside later, after dinner settles.

Went back to Isetan and got the Opera Pistachio for 540 yen from Atelier Kohta. I don't have any special information, but it seemed to be a butter cream layer cake. Not really much taste, or maybe that's really what pistachios taste like, but not great. I might still get to their shop some time for a tart, the classic chocolate again, or some other cake, if they rotate the line-up, as something different, but its not a high priority, so probably not this year. I'd like to get to Ginza next and get something from one of the three great (stand alone) shops, if I'm up to it.

19 km+ to Matériel

Had a timed run to the patisserie Matériel. As for Aigre Douce, I paused for stops, which eats up a couple seconds each time but obvious I'm getting some rest (actually, I'm stretching my back, which was still in bad shape today). This was a no backpack and thus a no run, but it was simple enough that I was only got off track a block or so a couple places. Yamanote doori was great for running the whole route, which is good to know for future runs. Total distance was about 19.65 km and the time was 1 58' 58'', so just over 6 min/km, which I'm happy with. I think I'd like for next weekend a 25 km run to see whether I can maintain a similar pace (hopefully, without the back pain, although that will mean another couple kilograms of weight from the backpack and contents).

I had the Negrita (a kind of rum, apparently), which is a rum raisin cake on the right, for 490, and it was okay. No complaints. The other was Moderne, which I picked despite not looking very promising because it was difficult for me to find anything that I wanted. This was also 490 yen. I regret not getting the simple chocolate cake or nothing, as I didn't like this. It's chocolate mousse and caramel (the not sweet kind) with some lemon for aroma (which I didn't pick up on). I'll say that this is a shop that I don't want to bother with in the future, although I suppose if I lived in this area, I could find something else worth getting, such as their one of their fresh baked goods.

Stopped by Isetan coming back. The Pistachio Opera from Atelier Kohta looked promising, but I resisted. Same selection as the shop though, about 6 cakes, several puddings (or whatever: stuff in glasses that I have no interest in), and a couple tarts for the refrigerated fresh stuff. Also, in defense of Laduree, the Isupahan at Pierre Hermes was exactly the same size and price, but Pierre Hermes is more convenient for me (and I having a savings club card, so I save about 8% at Isetan shops).

In the past, I would be anxious to immediately go out and get cake from some great shop to diminish the memory of the bad cake, but I don't feel so traumatized today (except by my back: time for more drugs), and I didn't really run that far, so I'll see whether I can stick with two pieces for today, which should be enough. I'll make kabocha pizza later, which should be great, although I need to get some flour, and maybe defrost some cheese cake tart (one of the burnt ones).

Saturday run around central Tokyo

Did a classic wandering route, more wandering than the map shows (I actually stopped to ask a cop, since I had no map, but not on any street shown there). Was more than 16 km, but it was difficult to jog parts of it because of pedestrian density, such as the east part, but I could do some even there. Was doing 1 min alternating intervals of slow fast for more than an hour of running, although it is all relative. No pack because of my back, and felt a little sick from the pain and from having had my eyes dilated at the eye doctor (no problems detected) which was not much returned to normal even after 3 hours, but at least it was darker outside then and I was running east to begin with, so I didn't wait any longer.

I got a cake from Patisserie Yamamuro first (actually, I got that right after the eye doctor, which is a couple doors down, but ran past there again when I went out running). This is a little neighborhood shop with fairly limited selection but no other competition in the Shinanomachi area. I got the Chocolat Pistachio for 480 yen, which is the chef's recommendation and probably the only thing I'm interested in there, although there is nothing wrong with the Pare (?) Chocolat and maybe other things, but not that exciting. This cake is standard chocolate over chocolate mousse with some pistachio mousse inside, but there is also a little berry (not sure whether it is raspberry or strawberry) compote or something, and the balance is good. Definitely one of the better of this standard cake that I've had.

Somehow, Seiyo Ginza got bookmarked, so I looked for it at Matsuya but failed to find it there. I thought about swinging by Hidemi Sugino, but decided I really wanted to go to somewhere new to me. I did stop at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi and there I found Seiyo Ginza (which their website says will close after Tuesday) and saw that there was a reason that I've never noticed them before (not a lot of cake, and not what I'm interested in), so that was taken care of. Next, instead I went to find Atelier Kohta, who are at Shinjuku Isetan now, I think, so their eat-in counter is closed. Very small shop really. Actually, it's in an alley, so I went past it and knew I had gone too far and went back and had to search again to find it. Only maybe six types of cakes, include standard items I never want like mont-blanc, opera, and (strawberry) short cake. I got the Classic Chocolat for 515 yen, which was great, although just layered chocolate cake with whipped cream. The only other cake of interest in the selection (which was sold out) was an opera pistachio, but that is something I'm particularly interested in so it's hard to forget about it. I have to go back or get over to Isetan before Wednesday and see if they have it. Their webpage doesn't actually list the pistachio and they list several others, so maybe there is a high rate of rotation. I've add them to the map, along with the Le Pommier, which basically across from them on a different side street, but it is also tiny and I've never really found anything thing there that was special, although it's okay, so they don't really make a cluster of interest, and Anniversary down the street is not much better (notice that I've finished adding all my "A" cake shops to the map).

Ladurée: Isupahan

Between the rain and my back (I could barely stand up this morning), I decided that it was better not to run today (or yesterday), although I seem to be mostly recovered.

I wanted to catch up on great shops, so I went to Ladurée and got the usual shock at the prices. Still, I was determined so I got the Isupahan for 907 yen. It is a large raspberry filled macaron. It's definitely good, but not great or by any means 907 yen good, so I think I'll demote them from the great stack (of cards), because I can do better for less, even among these types of cakes. Still, curiosity will probably take me back again some year.

Patisserie Shima and laps

I was not able to resist getting cake again, this time from the new relatively local one that closes early, (Patisserie) Shima. I got the St. Marque for 540, which is a chocolate base below whipped cream. Couldn't figure out what the top flavor was, but the cake is very good. I'll go there again, but there are a couple great shops that I definitely am behind on visiting (expensive ones) and maybe I should also visit a couple other local shop sometime just to balance things out, as well as new shops, one of which I should found out about within range.

I debated running at all, but I ate so much that, even with my indoor upper body work out, I felt I need some calorie-burning exercise, so I did lap running for speed and endurance, still trying to set up some benchmarks. This time the goal was 8'05''/lap for six laps (1 lap is 1325 m). My total was 45'14''41 and the laps were 7'28''10, 7'42''48, 7'43''92, 7'27''59, 7'26''57, 7'25''75, so no problem and I'll try for seven laps at 7'45'' next time I'm doing that kind of running.

Aigre-Douce: Tarte au Caramel Salé and Mille-Feuille

I tried timing a run to a cake shop, pausing the timer when I had to pause for more than a couple seconds for lights (no map checking needed). Apparently took 36 minutes for 6 km there, which seems about right, as I was doing a pretty good pace for me. The run back with cake was similar, although I didn't run the full distance: stopped at a Lawson 100 for groceries and they were a little too heavy for running (or at least, it did not seem great for my shoulders). Timing seemed to motivate me to run hard. I was really tired and slept in the afternoon. I guess I better take it easy tomorrow (although that might just mean that I run slow).

One cake was Tarte au Caramel Salé (salted caramel tart). Besides the caramel, this has some chocolate and was great. The other cake was their mille-feuille. It's just a basic version without any fruit, nuts, or icing, but very good. It was a good choice as a second cake. They were 480 and 560 yen, although I don't know which was which.

Ryoco and laps

Went over to Ryoco early, earlier than I intended, but I rid harder than my usual easy pace, so I had 25 minutes to wait, which was longer than necessary, but shorter than if I had tried the last two times I went by there. 10 minutes before opening might have been enough. There was one other person earlier than that and a few people by the time they opened, with people arriving after that. There was a sign on the door saying that they were no longer able to take orders for things like birthday cakes, at least until things calm down.

This time I got the Terrine Chocolat for 540 yen, which was very good, soft rich chocolate, although too soft for the vibration of cycling. Next was the Moelleux Chocolat for 380 yen, which is also soft chocolate, but the soft part is a core inside the cake, so no problem with vibration, although the whipped cream (?) dome did shift a little. This is always great, maybe their greatest. Finally, the Merveille for 540, which was chocolate and raspberry, but too much raspberry for me.

The running cake later. I went down to Meiji Ginju Gaien and did laps, this time with 8:30 as the goal and this time for 5 laps. Actually, I was under 8:00 each, so no problem speeding up things a little over last time (target 9:00/, actual about 8:40/; no wait, that was last time: this time was 8:30/, which I definitely did), although I started at about 7:30 and found myself slowing down after 3 laps. Maybe next timed laps will be 8:05/ or 8:10/ for 6 laps. Even though total, I did not do much more than 10 km, I could feel it afterward, so the speed was probably better than usual. I already decided yesterday that I did not need to do a long (35 km) run Wednesday, and now I'm thinking I don't need to do one Sunday either. I'd like to do something more like 20 or 21 km, still to a new cake shop, and time it with the intention of trying to maintain a pace. I'd have to pause it at red lights and navigation-check stops to get anything consistent, but I can do that.

Cycling to Rue de Passy and Fraoula

I was late, and arrived at Ryoco at 10:45 so there was a huge line. I was reminded of Hidemi Sugino in Kyoubashi (north of Ginza), which is a rightly famous cake shop/cafe that I have not listed as great, partially because of the bother of lining up there and partly because their fruity mousse cakes are not my highest interest (although I'm talking myself in to going there). Anyway, I'll try again when I can go early enough to get cake in under an hour and probably also get at least two pieces for my trouble.

I went west next, as planned, to Rue de Passy and got their new Galaxy for 518 yen. It is a mousse dome. There is a base of milk chocolate ganache, a couple millimeters of chocolate (maybe) cake on next, then a dome of praline mousse with fruit, a covering of chocolate, and a few more pieces of fruit and other bits as you can see. The fruit was apple and pineapple compote, although I'm not sure which was which. Maybe the pineapple was the tiny hardish pieces on the outside and the apple was the fruit inside (it was a fairly small amount). It was a good balance all around, except it was a little too sweet and candy-like for me. Maybe I should have eaten in with tea. Given how bad the mosquitoes were in the park I tried, I wish I had used their cafe. I think I'll go back to considering this shop as very good and not give it further special attention.

I next, by an unintentionally long route, went to Fraoula, where I got the new Fig Tart. This was 518 yen. It is very good. You can see that it is slices of fig on a custard tart, or at least something in that family. Probably a good compliment for the Galaxy, but not really trying to be great. I also got La Boule, which is not cake, so no picture, but is a 4 cm sphere of sweet bread, for 108 yen; it was very nice and I'll continue sampling their their baked goods. 

Was quite tired later and needed a nap. I shouldn't be doing another long run this Wednesday---once a week would be more than enough---although I might try something special, like going out to Bigarreaux, to see what they have that I haven't tried. I'll need to get more done at home before then, though. At least the dishes aren't piling up, the mail is a little better dealt with, and three loads of washing got done. Also, I have ingredients for a big pot of curry and another version of cheesecake tarts.

31+ km to P. du Chef Fujiu (Maison Mere): Istanbul and W Vanilla

Was a good run and the foot and skin seem okay. I forgot my running cream, but my knees are okay. Was getting pretty sweaty at the end, so would have been smarter to use it. Only kicked my left ankle with my right heel two times, both when weaving around people, so my work to improve my form and strengthen my ankles seems to be paying off. My right foot was a little sore at the beginning and I was using the "expert race" shoes rather than my heavier high-cushion shoes, so I was a little worried at the beginning, but no problems there. I had just resolved to not run today, because I didn't want to run into the sun in the afternoon (which now I don't think would have been a problem), when my 10 am canceled. I have to say, that 10 km out, west of Ring Road 8, Hitomidairo has no space for pedestrians and a lot of traffic going to the Ring Road 8. The last bit along a canal was nice until it ended with me on the wrong side of the tracks (don't believe the Google Map).

At Fujiu, I got the Istanbul for 400 yen and the W Vanilla (which was written phonetically as "Double Vanilla" in Japanese). These are both hazelnut and pistachio cakes, and both have buttercream, but only one has vanilla (I'll leave it to you to guess which one). The previous cake I got from there was hazelnut, too, and there's still at least one more that I haven't tried, so its a theme. Unfortunately, these were only good and not great, although the other unfortunate thing is that they are really far away, because they were good and I like nuts and buttercream.

Good area for hiking, though, if you want to take the train first. However, the train was a problem coming back today. It's not a good sign when you see train personnel running hard with backpacks of tools between parallel tracks down into a tunnel (although, that was the other direction). I need to check the news tonight. They were supposed to have arrested the person petrol bombing equipment and putting lines out of action for hours at a time around central Tokyo.

Added Fujiu to the base map already. Probably will try another long run Wednesday (5-day weekend), so maybe a little cycling tomorrow, and shorter runs Monday and Tuesday.

1-min intervals to Toshi Yoroizuka: MT Noix

Today, I jogged down to Tokyo Midtown using 1 min comfortable, 1 min hard running intervals, 15 total. The Toshi Yoroizuka there had the cake that I was looking for the other day, MT Noix (actually, in the shop, this has become "Em(p)ty Noah" phonetically for some reason, but "Noix" makes more sense as far as being a nut, even though I'm not sure that there is any noix---walnut---in it; the "MT" is "Midtown") for 570 yen. This is hazelnut cake and hazelnut praline cream along with chocolate cake and nuts and chocolate on top. It is a great cake. Neither the praline nor the chocolate is too strong, so I don't get tired of it halfway. It moved around a little in its base, so there are some loose nut pieces on the plate; it's kind of too tall for its own good.

Rain and workout inside with La Noboutique: Viennois (?)

Today I was feeling tired and there was a lightning caution (although that was true for most of the country), so I stayed in and exercised. Since Friday is harder to get cake, I talked myself into getting cake anyway, from Isetan. They are being visited by La Noboutique, from which I bought Viennois (actually, only labeled phonetically, ヴィエノワ, so I'm guessing) for 526 yen. It looks like chocolate, but I knew it had hazelnut. Actually, about two thirds is hazelnut cake, with a base of cake making up half and an additional cylindrical piece in the walnut flavored (not that I could tell) whipped cream on top. The chocolate is just a coating, and its not gelatinous, so they have my respect. The effect is more like a torte and it was good, so I want to go there.

Ginza run in light rain to Dalloyau: Tarte Chocolat

Just did a Aoyamadori to Ginza and shortest way back run. Felt awkward and strange, like I hadn't run recently, although I have everyday from Saturday. It was not painful, though and I'm not particularly tired from it, so I could have done more, but with the rain, it was enough, carrying cake. Well, not cake, but a Tarte Chocolat. It was very good, as good as the best from Jean-Paul Hevin (not that they have one these days) or Ryoco, but it's not really great, just nice sometimes. That makes 8 items I've blogged about from there, so I'll turn up empty soon (they had one other item that I've had but not blogged about, plus cream puffs and Mont Blanc, which I've had and don't need to blog about). The tart is 486 yen made of chocolate cream on a short bread base covered in shiny (?) chocolate. Rain is increasing through tomorrow night so I'll probably skip cake and stay in.

Two days of running and homemade cheesecake

Yesterday, I got a late start running. I went down to Meiji Jingu Gaien to do timed laps, concentrating on my running form to avoid injuring my foot, this time. I was only trying to do 9 min a lap for a 1.3+ km course, so that I could do (even when workmen showed up and set up a parallel detour so that they could dig up the course). Only 4 laps plus the running to get there, so pretty limited, but I was already committed to making cheesecake. I had made one batch before before using a comprise between the recipe on the cream cheese package, the recipe from my mother, and what ingredients are convenient to me. The crust is 125 g of flour, 75 g of unsalted butter, 30 g of sugar, one egg yoke, and one teaspoon of water, which is straight from the SliceSy manual for by bamix (what I have instead of a food processor). My mother's is a pie recipe without the egg and using oil, and it just doesn't stick together well enough for tarts. The filling part is 200 g of cream cheese (because that's the size they sell), 60 g of sugar (usually I use caster, but I ran out so half brown this time), just one tablespoon of flour I think (Mom), 3 egg whites (because I've got a surplus in the freezer), 1 tablespoon of olive oil (to make up for the lack of yokes), 90 g of no fat yogurt (because that's what I have: Mom, 1/2 cup of evaporated milk, which comes in 170 g cans here; package, 200 g of cream, which would cost as much as the cheese), 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (0 for Mom, 2 for package), and 20 g of unsalted butter. 24 min is enough in my convention oven at 180 deg C. This makes 2.5 14 cm tarts, which is inconvenient, thus the need to make it twice (which killed my supply of unsalted butter, which comes in 200 g most commonly, but I've bought 150 g, which really doesn't take you far, with no reasonable replacement found yet due to the Japan butter shortage). Unfortunately, yesterday, I was having a bad day and didn't reset the temperature from making pizza, so the three I made were at 250 deg C: unexpected blackness. Fortunately, it's only skin deep, and I've verified it's okay today, although I'll definitely save the uneaten unburnt one for someone special.

Today's running was down to the same place and only two laps total, in which I did two groups of 5 intervals of 30/20/10 second running slow/fast/fastest under the constraint of making sure that my left foot was moving properly. I only covered half the distance as when I wasn't being careful and I was counting rather than using the new watch. I definitely can move up to more groups or longer intervals. At home, I did a little lower leg and upper body work.

Sunday afternoon run: Rue de Passy and S'éveile

In running, I was looking for a better Marjolaine, so weaved a little and stopped in a few places. I looked in at Takagi at Gaienmae, then Chez Lui (which is just somewhere I go past frequently and doesn't look particularly promising, although it might be fine for what it has) in Shibuya, then Cacahouete just inside Meguro-ku, by Sourire again, just because that was the best route, a pop in at Matterhorn by Gakugei University/College Station (where I wouldn't expect to see a fancy cake), to Rue de Passy a couple blocks away, where I got the Opera Pistache which is related, in being nutty, and closely related to Opera Praline, which is the second recipe in the same book, although it a recipe that is much more complicated and so I would not imagine trying it.

I'll call this a great cake (and it was not particularly expensive) and say that I should consider whether this is a great shop. Unfortunately, it closes 30 minutes earlier and is one station farther away than Sourire, so I don't think I can easily manage a weekday run there unless I learn to be faster.

I continued on to Jiyuugaoka and stopped in at the Dalloyau, just in case, on the way to m.koide, which I decided to downgrade from a great shop just because the selection is pretty small, although they were open on a Sunday this time.

That leads to my actual second cake, which was Le Suprême from (Paris) S'éveille, for 620 yen. This was blackberry and chocolate mousse, so I recommend eating it in the shop, although I managed to get it to a park with minimal melting despite that it was not well packed. Still, great cake, even with the limitation of being mostly mousse. There are still lots of cakes I need to sample from there (for blogging: I've probably had this cake before).
Later, I had some of the chestnut cake below (1200 yen from Aoki). It's fine. Sorry, but I don't know what it's called. It might be exclusive to Shinjuku Isetan.

Saturday evening: 15+ km to Sourire

The recipe that's been looking at is a Marjolaine, so I Googled the name and thought I'd try one. It showed up at Sourire, which I've been to a couple times and gotten a tart and maybe cheese cake, so never really regular cake, for whatever reason. They are open until 8 pm and I can get there in an hour, so I should consider them for longer runs, which is what I did and tried out the new watch (but used the old shoes). I did alternating 1 minute intervals (pausing the timer where necessary at stoplights) and managed 10. I had my usual problem with my left foot, though: when I run hard, I apparently don't run well and do some damage. I can run 40+ km without problems (because I never run that hard) of that sort, but a few hard intervals are a problem. I may need to see a professional and get some running advice.

Added Sourire (as well as others for later posts), which is near Youtenji, to the map. This picture I can post. Marjolaine is hazelnut Japonaismasse cake with praline cream and whipped cream layers. I was expecting a stronger taste from the cake part, since the hazelnut powder can be the most expensive part, but you can also get cheap stuff too, which I'm not sure works the say, so maybe that's what happened here. I would have expected the cake to be firmer and darker, although as far as firmer, you are supposed to add the filling and then give it a day for the moisture to soak into the cake part, so maybe this is just the way it's supposed to be. It was not bad. In fact, it was very good, although, as I said, it was not what I was expecting, and less whipped cream would have been better for me (which is maybe why I don't like Japanese [strawberry] short cake, which tends to be a pile of whipped cream with strawberries and little tasteless sponge cake inside). It was 480 yen, which is reasonable.

Saturday afternoon: Jean-Paul Hévin

Went shopping and got a second pair of running shoes (since shoes need rest). These were ones like real runners use, people who can do marathons twice as fast as I do. That may or may not have been a good idea, but they seem okay. Also I got a sports watch that has a lap chronometer and a repeating double timer, which also may or may not have been a good idea; the band is semitransparent and you can set an LED to flash for night running. It's not that bright, but a little help is not a bad idea.

For cake, we went to Shinjuku Isetan and got the seasonal Mont-Blanc, which is apparently the most seasonal, for 674 yen. For technical reasons, I can't post the picture I took, so you'll have to visit the website. This is a meringue almond base, whipped cream middle, and fresh chestnut cream. I'm not that into mont-blanc in general, despite it being very popular in Japan, but this is a great cake and the best Mont-blanc I've ever had, unless the best is actually one of the flavored Jean-Paul Hévin Mont-blancs, which have not arrived yet. You can only buy this Friday thru Sunday and holidays. Not sure how long it will last, but in some form at least through December, I would imagine.

The other cake was the seasonal (but available every day) Fondant du Chocolat. This is ganache wrapped around pear inside chocolate cake with powered sugar on top (actually, the Mont-blanc, also has powered sugar) for 717 yen. This is also great cake, and also not my favorite because I don't like pears in my cake, or at least this cake. Still, this was better than last time I had it, when it was perhaps too hot and the cake needed some time in the refrigerator before eating. On the other hand, Chocolat Fondant that I've had from elsewhere recommended microwaving for 20 seconds, although I don't regret not doing that for this one, since I don't really want to bring out the pear more. But it, and the Mont-Blanc, did taste great, I'm not just saying it's great on its technical merits.

Someone who expected a different price also ordered two Maron Confit (that is, candied chestnuts) and I did not object. These were 460 yen a piece. They were very good.

Rainy day, short run, no cake

Raining this week. Went out when it was a little light and got down to Meiji Jingu Gaien and did a lap (in 8:10; I was going to do multiple laps with 9:00 as the pace) and then it was raining too hard, so I came back and worked out inside a bit. Also, added a few cake shops to the weekday map.

Short run to P. Shima: Bacchus

I got home not too late and it was raining, with the forecast for increasing rain, so I decided to run to a cake shop I had overlooked until recently, Patissier Shima, which is in Kojimachi, not too far away. It closes at 7 pm, which is one reason that I had overlooked it, and I haven't used that road lately (I would only use it coming around the north end of the place moat course).

Coming back, I walked and did some shopping (I had an umbrella in my running pack), so not so much running. I could have gone out again after putting things away, since it was not raining so much, but I was lazy. Tomorrow, perhaps, I'll try just running without cake, although it's rain forecast for all week.

The cake was Bacchus, which is a chocolate cake with rum. It was very good. I definitely recommend it, so I'll be going back.

No running: Lettre d'Amour [Closed] and Fraoula

At Lettre d'Amour, I got their Shirogane Fromage (Shirogane is neighborhood name), which is their cheese cake, for 600 yen. There were actually several customers, so I had to wait a few minutes, but most of those disappeared upstairs to the cafe by they time I had made my decision. The cake is three kinds of cream cheese blended into a mousse with a little citrus juice and gelatin with a sponge base. I went through a progression of thinking it was good cheese cake through about half, not something I need more than half of in the second half, and maybe not something I need at all afterward, although I'm not sure why. Rare cheese cake is not my favorite anyway. That's only my fourth from there, and there were plenty more cakes. More importantly, I found a good nearby park to eat in.

It was Sunday afternoon, so Ryoco had people lined up outside (early afternoon, that is; late afternoon when they run out, they just close), despite the light rain. From experience, I would say it would take about an hour (for 10 people: most people get several pieces and it takes time to box those up well), so I passed and circled back to Fraoula, who are never that busy (I hope they have some restaurant contracts; there were a couple people in the back busy, so they must have something).

I got this Senteur for 486 yen, which is Earl Grey flavored and has prunes. I was very happy with it. I'd be a good compliment with something sweeter, which I mean in a good way.

This is the Arre, I think (the register is having a little problem printing). It's a huge, flat, crunchy thing, perhaps with sesame but very sweet and chewy, for 324 yen. I prefer the Bostock, but I wanted to try this.

So, I'm thinking maybe I'll give up on cake shops outside Tokyo. I'm past the point of needing to go to new cake shops every time and I'd rather find nice paths for running than visit every shop within range. There's plenty that I've been to before that I haven't blogged about, and I can set other destinations and then visit, on the way or on the way back, whatever cake shop is convenient. Since I have a place 30 km out within Tokyo that I want to visit, I won't need to change my habits soon.

27 km to Un Petit Paquet

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. 

Rainy day running near Meiji Jingu Gaien: Guayaquil from Jean-Paul Hevin

It's another rainy day, so I got cake first. Well, actually I visited Tokyu Hands first and they had lots of cake pans today, although they were called something different than in my recipe book and none of them were the required size (and few listed their size in centimeters), which is just as well, because I do not have an industrial oven and can't do 30 cm by 40 cm. Still, once I get actual ingredients, I think I'll try to find a small pan for a trial before getting a larger pan. I can do up to 30 by 30 cm with my oven. As far as ingredients, what I need first is egg whites (I'd like to get powered) and hazelnut powder (I've only seen almond). Maybe this weekend I'll get over to Cuoca (not that I can't order online, but I'd like to see their pans, too).

Anyway, for the run, I ran around Meiji Jingu Gaien area. Because I had been trying to do intervals lately, I wondered about doing intervals by distance, since there are 100 m markers there. My easy run (after a 1 km warm-up) was about 40 s, hard was 30 s, and all-out was around 23 or 24 s. Maybe my next thing will be to set a lap speed and see how many laps I can keep it up, but again, it would be easier to do that with a watch that gave me a signal at regular intervals (although I worry about running down the battery quickly). Eventually, I'll care enough to go shopping at a store and see if I can actually try something and see whether it does what I want, which I've only did a little and looked on-line.

I ran about 1 hour, which is not so long, but I kept up a pretty good speed and stopped very little (I avoided standing at stoplights, but just took paths that were available, trying new places).

The cake that I was waiting for was the Guayaquil from Jean-Paul Hévin which was 685 yen (I pointed out that the card said 618 yen, but that did not even get me a freebie, although two people apologized and one person went back to consult someone higher up; butter prices and the weak yen are driving up cake prices everywhere, I've noticed).  The cake is their standard bitter chocolate cake, which is completely great. It's hard to imagine better chocolate cake, but I should acknowledge two things: (i) I had drunk about two glasses of red wine before, so I was feeling pretty positive; (ii) I've had this cake in the past and been disappointed, so you have to watch out for times when it's too humid and hot for this cake; in this case, it went into the refrigerator for a couple hours before I ate it and the temperature is down to below 30 today, although rainy, so not full summer heat, much less the extreme heat that we broke records with this year in Tokyo.

Materiel did not have the same raspberry cake when I went today, so I can't update that post yet.

No running, Matériel

I made a futile trip to Tokyu Hands, but they were having some sort of special bulk sale, so no baking supplies. I've got a recipe book and needed a pan. The recipe makes 27 cakes, so actually I wouldn't mind a smaller version of the pan so that I can re-scale. Plus, I'm not really equipped to whip up 600 grams of egg whites into a meringue (which I've never done successfully, and really, it's still too humid). Here, I was worried about using the few eggs worth I have frozen now. Actually, the recipe doesn't make 27 pieces of cake, it makes 27 rectangles for making the cake and each piece uses 4 (which is not good planning, but it's a standard size pan, 40 cm by 30 cm), so it's not completely crazy. Still, half would be plenty.

Matériel (or Ma teriel) was at Isetan, so I got Franboise-something (it's not on their site, so I'll have to visit again to find out what it was). It was good, but not great. I know it has raspberries and almond from the card. Difficult to taste beyond the raspberries, although the balance was better than the m.koide cake that I was complaining about the other day. I'll add it to the list of places to visit on the weekend. It's actually in Tokyo, so I could combine it with something else. The next three shops, though, are all 25+ km just due to their distance and then I have some closer ones from Isetan and even the Joshi+ blog has visited an actual patisserie again, besides one's I've already been to, so I should try it out.

9 km with intervals

I tried to do interval training, which is supposed to be 5 30/20/10 second runs, a 2 minute pause, and a second set. Actually, I went 9 km, so it took an hour. I could pick up the Akasaka Palace loop by a shorter route, which I'll do, next time. I'm not sure that I'm counting the second that well, since running interferes at any speed. I'm still interesting in a running watch to help, if only Timex was interested in sharing information in English to Japan.

I ate one of my less successful homemade efforts, trying to clean out the freezer for the next try. If I catch another break in the rain, I'l get good cake somewhere. Or I may just get cake from Isetan regardless, since I'm behind visiting anyway, as far is sampling great cakes.