Imperial moat course and Shiseido: Amaretto Raisin

Got my cake first, from the Shiseido Parlour counter at Isetan. I'm not sure whether they have cake at any of their other outlets. Haven't see it if they have. I got the Amaretto Raisin for 453 yen, which is reasonable. They only have a few cakes and the milli feuille, mont-blanc, short cake, and shu cream (puff) are usually going to be among them, so not a huge selection, but worth being aware of.

Jogged comfortably over the the imperial moat course and timed myself for one lap: 25'38''09, which is consistent with my best times elsewhere, even using my older heavy shoes. Special features of the course are that, starting from the middle of the west side, where Shinjuku Road runs into it and there's a park and a guard post, it's at its steepest going downhill. It's maybe flat along the south side, but then turns to a steady uphill for the next half the course, even after you turn the corner onto the west side from the north. Also, it's crowded, although I didn't run into huge problems. At one corner, there were a couple people holding signs promoting some race Jan 29, so maybe it was the Shinjuku half marathon, although I didn't recognize that as what they were saying.

Back home, I had the Amaretto Raisin, which is named for the liquor, which it has, but it was not noticeably alcoholic. I didn't know it was so I asked, which made the clerk look it up. Actually, what she told me was apricots, which is what amaretto is made from, that and almonds usually, I guess. Actually, she confirmed last that I was okay with it having alcohol before finalizing the sale: she's not irresponsible. Now, if only clerks did that for things with coffee in them. Lots of fruit in this cake, including raisins, of course, with just an outer wrapping of mousse, which worked for me: excellent cake. I'll have to go back and read the description, but I wonder if the actual outer bottom cake part (which is shy of 1 cm thick, I think) reminded me of ginger, although maybe that's the Amaretto flavor. Counter is worth keeping an eye on.

Still got a couple counters at Isetan that I definitely need to blog/add to the map, and maybe a few others that I might eventually. Oh, and there's Rose Bakery on the third floor: I assume that you can get takeout from there.