Le Jardin Bleu: Nagori Mont-Blanc

Today, still no running because of a cough. Hope to be able to do at least stretches tomorrow. Went to Takashimaya and got a cake of Le Jardin Blue's. Not a huge selection there, but the actually shop is an about 60 km round trip, so even healthy, I may never manage that running.

I went with the Nagori Mont-Blanc (485 yen?), which I think uses Japanese chestnuts. Maybe I should not have, since it was plopped in the middle of a plastic wrapper sheet, which may have some structural advantage over just putting it on a dish but can't respect. The cake was good, mostly by being very sweet. The bottom was a meringue disk, but there was a softer cake disk on top of that without any special taste whose purpose must also have been structural. I've had a couple better cakes from this shop (one of which Takashimaya had), but the shop is now looking maybe quite good rather than my earlier assessment of potentially excellent, so it will probably be a long time before it gets my attention again.

Cake-off: JPH: "Matcha" over Bigarreaux "Citron"

Still not running, as I've gone into a full-blown cold (after seemingly fighting something for a couple weeks but not stopping running), so I consoled myself with a cake-off sourced from Isetan. Although they did not have it back in February when I checked the main store, they had the Citron (500 yen) when Bigarreaux visited Isetan (though still no Le Plaisir, but they did not bring a very big selection of fresh cakes). This was excellent, with layers of lemony cream and sponge cake, and something that I would be interested to make (not that I've done a lot of baking laterly), but I was not feeling the greatness; since it was a fairly early evaluation (and thus a priority to revisit for cake-off), I'm not surprised that it doesn't meet my current standard for greatness.

The cake I got to compare it to was not very similar, but was something I was having a hard time matching something up to (it was a priority because I wanted to have it again before it disappeared from Jean-Paul Hévin, which supposedly will happen May 1, when they'll introduce a couple éclairs that I should evaluate). This was the Matcha (735 yen), which is a rectangular mousse layer cake. Being JPH, it's chocolate cake, and the matcha (powered Japanese green tea) obviously gives it much of it's color as well as it's name), though I'm not experienced enough with it to pick it out of the harmony. Actually, the main flavor comes from yuzu (which is citrus, which is how it relates to the Citron) and cherry, which in generally I'm not fond of, but again, I wouldn't necessarily be able to pick out of the harmony of flavors other than to note that something was working with the yuzu and matcha. This definitely is a great cake, so it easily wins this cake-off.

For Friday, I just got some bread to celebrate another work week over and a chance to rest and recover. This is their rye bread, and it was good, but not a really strong in flavor, so nothing special.

[Tuesday & Wednesday] Viron: Parfum de Rose

Jogged to Viron, which was a huge mistake, for one thing, I've been sick since, but then, probably before that as well so I'm not so confident about cause and effect. No soreness at first, but picked up some hip pain half way there. Was able to keep running, but again, apparently shouldn't have, though I've not feeling sore now again, even if I have what's probably a cold.

The cake, which was in response to Viron winning a cake-off, was Parfum de Rose, which is a fruity (and obviously flowery) mousse dome, so not really my thing. Still it was good. Obviously, it did not travel so well.

The next day, on Wednesday, I got a Madeleine Maman from Noix de Beurre, which was good, but I regret not getting the financier, since my last one wasn't good as I wanted (but better than this).

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.

L'Abricotier: Maranta

As one of three shops on my Very Excellent list (bottom 8 of the top 15 Tokyo shops) with only 6 cakes tried, I did a run to P. l'Abricotier by the shortest route (according to Google), which I hadn't used in most previous runs there for some reason. It was good, but I missed the first turn coming back and I can't make my memory of where I think I went and got lost on back streets match up with what is physically possible, unless there is a wormhole in Shinjuku somewhere that takes you from the south side of Okubo Avenue to the north side without crossing the street. Since my estimated route based on where I thought I knew I was before turning onto side streets still has me running at 10 km/h, I gave up trying to figure out the impossible. I assume that I ran over 16 km total on the high side of 10 km/h both ways.

Unfortunately, the cake, called Maranta after the type of chocolate, for 460 yen, was just good, so I have to drop this shop from my Very Excellent list, since I think at least Toshi Yoroizuka is better, though there are a couple of less frequented shops that I want to get 4th cakes from before I decide which to replace L'abricotier by. The cake was a dense chocolate cake, with maybe butter-based ganache in layers between layers of dark cake. Not sure which was flavored tonka beans. Maybe only by the power of suggestion from the color of the cake, it was slightly gingery. Still an excellent shop where I've gotten good service and I've had three great cakes from there that I noticed at least two of today, so I'm be back there again relatively soon.

Friday I rested  and tried a couple Jean-Paul Hévin chocolates: Carre JPH Noir and Carre JPH Lait, where are just basic chocolate squares, for only 136 yen each. It's hard to tell from just one bit of tell, but they were definitely good. For me, the Noir was excellent. The Lait was very smooth, but in the end I'm not that into the milk taste most of the time.

Dalloyau: Tarte au Fraise

Today's run was to Dalloyau, where I got the Tarte au Fraise (or maybe it was Tarte aux Fraises) for 594 yen. This was very similar to the last fruit tart I got there, but I was not as into it, even though it was still definitely great.

For the run, I took the Aoyama route, although with several pedestrian bridges and one underground crossing, so lots of stairs. I took a slightly shorter way back, though, just following the lights. It was slightly less than 7 km at 10 km/h going out, despite the stairs, and 6 km at 9 km/h coming back.

[Wednesday] Le Coeur Pur: Cheese Tart

Wednesday, I did another run to Ogikubo looking for Le Coeur Pur, this time with more knowledge (like where they had moved to and that their name was not on the outside and is also a deli bakery). Inside, I cold find bakery products with the name Le Coeur Pur, so I knew it was the correct place but I was running pretty late (so to speak), and they were basically sold out, except some cheese tarts, so I ordered one of those and ate it in. The marked price was 360 yen before taxes, but she rang it up at 200 yen because it was tiny, really only two bites, although I stretched it to three. Although less useful as a measure of more typical cake, it still was rich and definitely good, better than what I usually make, but I'm still just going to stick with good and don't need to hurry back.

Related to running late, I was running fast, burning off some stress and not feeling a need to save any energy for later. Even passing through Shinjuku Station area, I managed 11 km/h average each way. One advantage of tiny cake was I was not weighed down, which suits me, and I could keep my speed up mostly for the entire 20 km. There was another couple kilometers regular grocery shopping running, but I couldn't seem to get my timing skill working by then, so I'm just calling it 9 km/h in my records.

Cake-off: Viron's Gateau au Chocolat over Jean-Paul Hévin's Guayaquil

I'm a couple days behind because there were a couple days without cake.

Sunday, I did a similar run to Friday's, along the History and Culture course from the start of the Gaien Walk to Hibiya Park, with the only difference being that I took the slightly longer way (and definitely hillier way) past Akasaka going back but also stopped at Lawson 100. This was about 12 km at 9 km/h. There was not cake, but there was desert from Kyobashi Sembikiya, which is a fruit place. I just got the Fruit Yogurt, which was more than half banana and not any better than what I have every day for breakfast and four times the price (although we had a 500 yen ticket to use, so that covered 1/3 of two desserts). The other double-priced and slight better dessert was Melon Bavarois.

Monday, I tried going to Le Coeur Pur, which it turns out has moved, so 19 km averaging 9 km/h, though that is in the rain and passing through dense commuting crowd (with umbrellas) from the intersection of Meiji and Yasukuni north of Shinjuku San-chome Station through to at least West Shinjuku Station, and to a less extent at every Marunouchi Line station. As with Ginza, it's probably faster (or at least less frustrating and safer) to go underground and walk under the Shinjuku Station area, which is what I did coming back, from the Odakyu entrance (which, by the way, is the department store where we picked up yesterday's fruit desserts). Because I had no cake and spent an extra kilometer looking around outside and then more effort walking inside around Ogikubo Station the the department store), I decided to treat myself to a Mr. Donut Angel French cruller on the way back, which was good (they are lighter than American donuts, though I'm not sure about U.S. Mr. Donut in particular). Didn't mind not getting cake, since I was planning a cake-off for today anyway.

Cake-off meant getting Guayaquil from Isetan and then running to the Marunouchi Viron for Gateau au Chocolat, which I did successfully. I took the long, hillier way down to Aoyama Avenue going out and came back up the side of Akasaka coming back, though the times were not that different (at least carrying cake) despite the more than 1 km difference, and with the lights I'm not sure that the short way is much faster. It was about 12 km, with the great part at 10 km/h going and 9 km/h coming back. Both cakes are definitely great, so it was hard to choose (but fun comparing). In the end, I decided the Viron's Gateau au Chocolat deserved the win for it's greater simplicity (it's a uniform cake, whereas the Guayaquil is maybe half ganache in layers and falls apart when cut) and lower price, but this is not a single-elimination competition, so if and when I get to a second round, Guayaquil won't miss its chance against another first-round loser.

Toshi Yoroizuka Tokyo: Caramel Flambé

No running Saturday and café dessert rather than the usual fresh cake, but still worth mentioning, since this is a cake brand whose shops I've visited frequently and think are excellent. Their Tokyo Midtown shop is nearest, but this one is also convenient to many things and quite spacious. We each got the Grand Menu, which at 3000 yen was surprisingly cheap for this level of service, food, and atmosphere, although they were not so busy (the whole Kyobashi Station area was not that busy, though there were still plenty of people around, just not so many compared to nearby Tokyo Station or Ginza, I assume). The Grand Menu comprises three courses: the "side dish", which is chocolates, sauce, and fruit, a plate of strawberry risotto (not shown), and a main desert. I choose the Caramel Flambé. The other is gorgonzola and pistachio, I think, but I don't remember the name.

The chocolate plate was excellent. The sauces are raspberry and some citrus, that I did not catch the name, though they might not have been any more specific that that.

I didn't take a picture of the strawberry risotto, since it's pretty far from what I usually blog about and I don't photograph everything I eat, but I probably should have in this case, since it was also quite excellent, very creamy, and a unique experience that I recommend. On what to me is a trivial note but does relate to the quality through the direct attention of the proprietor,  apparently the one preparing the strawberry risotto in front of us (it's set up as a bar) was the Grand Patissier himself, Toshi Yoroizuka, who has celebrity status outside the culinary field from being a widower of an actress.

The Caramel Flambé was great, as well as being highly in keeping with my bias, which is why I choose it. The tart was pretty unstable once I cut into it, so I finished off the ice cream relatively early. Otherwise, it was a nice combination or caramel flavors, as well as being photogenic (this gets featured on advertisements), though the overlap between my tea cup and whatever those sheets sticking up out of the ice cream are has spoiled that part.

I won't try to judge the other dish, since I didn't have that much of it and it is mostly ice cream, which doesn't interest me much, but yet another example of the fine plates.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Truffe de Truffe

For lack of other cake options, to further pay off my cake debt from doing a cake-off on Sunday and reward the winner, and just because I'm behind on sampling things from my favorite cake shop, I went to Jean-Paul Hévin at Isetan for something new and ended up choosing their Truffe de Truffe (~350 yen?). This turned out to be maybe great, though it is difficult to tell with something that is gone so quickly. It's light (as in airy) chocolate ganache in a thin chocolate shell covered in cocoa powder. It's very dark but not bitter. If they had other types Truffe, which I don't think they do, I would definitely try them next (until the next new fresh cake comes in).

The run for Friday was 13.2 km at about 10 km/h. I followed the Tokyo History and Culture course from the beginning of the Gaien Walk to the corner of Hibiya Park, where multiple courses meet, and then just headed home. Along some parts, I was actually following the course on the opposite of the street after being block by a demonstration near the Diet Building. I had considered doing a training run I had heard about designed to increase fat burning: 1 km warm-up, 1 km about as fast as possible, 3 min slow, 1 km as fast as possible, and then immediately run, I'm not sure how long, maybe 7 to 10 km, at a jog. But I'm not sure that fat burning is my problem (though my body fat doesn't go down) and something more fun seemed more reasonable. A training run is best for after a rest day, when I have maximum energy, so maybe Sunday night, since I'm taking off Saturday, for one reason because I've used all but a little bit of my two-week budget, at 181 km relative to 12 km/h (108% of two-week max up to one week before). Still not fully sure what I'll do next week, but I'm planning to rest Friday and Sunday will be a makeup for Saturday, perhaps, so with Dalloyau and one long run to an unblogged shop, perhaps I'll probably do another cake-off with easy-to-get-to shops (although that's been tricky in the past, midweek).

Dalloyau: Apricot Pistache

Ran to Dalloyau today, though found that I couldn't run too fast. Total was 12 km, but only 10 km/h out and 9 km/h back. I guess last night's long run and running every day for 12 days has worn me out some, so I've revised my plan for tomorrow, since a speed challenge seems out of the question, but if I recover I may return to it. Otherwise, I'll just choose an interesting route, since I'm planning to get something ahead of time at Isetan, not cake, probably.

The cake was Apricot Pistache (597 yen), though I'm suspicious that I am remembering that correctly, since it mixes English and French. Anyway, it's a fruity dome with some pistachio cream or cheese (since the filling is cheese based). I can't say that I could taste the pistachio, though, since it is a fruity nut, it might have just harmonized with the apricot taste. It was good, but I'm not so interested in cake that just tastes like fruit.

Sakura: Madona

Working my way through places that I've never blogged on but are reachable on a weekday, I ran to Sakura in Toyosu, which is about 19 km round trip. The main problem going there is going through Ginza, where, between the crowds and the stoplights, you're really better off going underground and walking from about the first Ginza station to East Ginza Station, as far as going east-west. I did 12+ km/h the first half out and then dropped down to 9 km/h for the second outbound half, even walking underground (which I included in the time both ways) and doing a couple big pedestrian bridges (as well as three bridges over water, each way). There was some rain in the second half, but the first half coming back was down to 8 km/h, even without rain, due to strong winds (which didn't let up much), though I got back up to 9 km/h for the last bit, despite the wind.

The cake was Madona (マドンナ; 493 yen), which is puck-shaped chocolate mousse cake with a "smoky" flavor, created by chili pepper and salt. It was definitely good and I appreciated the creativity, but not really special enough that I need to get back there soon. I should congratulate their good packing, since this side at least traveled pretty well given the the mad made the bag carrying its box horizontal frequently.

14 Juillet Tokyo: Albatross

It was raining all day, but at least in the evening was not the heaviest. Still, no other runners seen on the way, and I went by the moat course. On the way back, when I was running against the prevailing section, I saw one runner coming from it and then one person just before I left it (for a couple kilometer stretch), even though the rain was down to more of a mist and it wasn't that cold (though the wind was a problem. Still, it was slow running, averaging 9 km/h both ways (about 11 km total).

I'm miffed that 14 Juillet Tokyo did not give me a rain cover for my cake. Really? I have to ask? Where did they think I was going to go that it was not raining? Sure, I could have asked, but since I had a plastic bag in my pack for similar occasions, I wrapped the box in the bag and still tried to use the paper bag. It lasted until home, but it was pretty weak when I tested it afterward, so next time I'll just leave the paper bag after repacking.

I choose the Albatross (アルバトロス; 550 yen), a chocolate mousse cake flavored with cassis and orange, on the grounds that it was obviously one of their signature cakes, since they had large versions of it for multiple people and there was only one left, so some people think it is good. Popularity is not really a good judge, but as a third cake, I went with it. And the balance between the fruit and chocolate mousse was good. Actually, the fruit was a little runny rather than being gelatinous, though not in a bad way (there is probably a better word than runny). Couldn't really taste the orange (or the alcohol), but it was presumably there to achieve the right balance between fruit and chocolate rather than call attention to itself. I'll say this was excellent, where I'm considering it relative to other similar mousse cakes with fruit.

Also of note, their former neighbor Igrekplus got the boot, which is fine with me. Have to wait to see what it gets replaced with.

Research run around Tokyo Station:

Today was a no-cake day to make up for yesterday's cake-off, so I did some research around Tokyo station: Marunouchi Jean-Paul Hévin to Viron (where they do have their chocolate cake that I might need for the next cake-off) to the new Kyobashi Toshi Yoroizuka, to Ginza Mitsukoshi to Le Chocolat de H, where I got a Vanille (a vanilla macaron; 250 yen), because I couldn't remember which chocolate macaron I had had before. Total run was about 12 km (I ended at the Lawson 100 to top-up on tofu and yogurt) averaging 11 km/h.

The macaron was excellent. It's on the small side and a little on the dry, hard side in the sense that the outside has a crispness but the center still has some softness. I prefer this type to ones that are allowed to get really soft throughout.

Cake-off: JPH "Salomé" vs. PH "Tarte Infiniment Vanille"

Wanted to do a cake-off and as potential matches for Jean-Paul Hévin's Salomé, I went down to Jiyugaoka to see whether Origines Cacao or Dalloyau had something. It was raining and I was trying a new route, though through somewhat familiar areas, and I kept getting turning around (literally, reversing directions after looking at the map, although the first time was apparently wrong) so it took longer than it should have. I came up dry, figuratively, and heading back, tried to take the intended route. I managed some of it, but again became turned around and made almost a big loop back to most of the way where the new part started, so I ended up with about 30 km total, when it should have been maybe 24 or 25 km. Speed (if I calculated correctly, based on points where I know I was) averaged 9 km/h. I should have mentioned yesterday that I ran about 27 km, split between 9 km/h and 10 km/h, and that give me almost 131 km for the week, raw, or 104 km weighted in terms of 12 km/h. My 2-week budget limit will be what's limiting me going into Friday.

Went with the backup plan of getting both cake from Isetan, JPH's Salomé (seasonal) and Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille (a standard). The Salomé is vanilla mousse with a balancing amount of chocolate mousse (that is, much less). This cake is subtle, to the point that I wondered how well I flagged it as great as I started with it. The Tarte is the opposite, very heavy, very strong vanilla (in white chocolate), and is my baseline for judging anything vanilla. In the end though, the more subtle Salomé won with me, even though both cakes are great (and so welcome relieve from a string of just good cakes since last Sunday).

Limevert: Chocolat Framboise

Took a run to P. & café Limevert via Fraoula (no luck again on the cake I want), getting off course very soon out of Fraoula, which was standard all day, although I wasn't trying very hard to stay on course coming back, just letting the crossing signal dictate changes. We're in sakurayuki ("cherry snow") by now, but I wasn't running through the famous places and it's just a little misty, so didn't have any problems with crowds, even though I was running noon to 4 pm.

The cake was Chocolate Framboise and was pretty standard, with raspberry ganache between layers of moist (from the ganache, but maybe some liquor; I didn't read the card beyond the name, but something I looked at had alcohol and I think it was this) chocolate sponge cake. It was definitely good and I like chocolate a lot and raspberry, but I guess this standard cake doesn't really work that well for me. I'm not sure what I want instead. Maybe a raspberry chocolate tart (that is, something that looses the sponge cake). Still a quite excellent shop that needs another visit soon, though I also need to get to Abricotier and Yu Sasage, as weekend priorities. Maybe I can manage Abricotier in two weeks, since it's the nearest and I want to do a 50 km run the next day, including a visit to a new History and Culture course (three more to do, I think).

Atelier Kohta: Mont-Blanc

In response to their winning a round of cake-off, I finally got back to Atelier. My best option for a new cake was Mont-Blanc, again, for 470 yen. This one was definitely good. It's a chestnut on top, French chestnut paste which was sweeter than average (reminding me of frosting), rum-flavored cream, which was good, on a nice almond tart. I was happy with it, but did not find it special (besides being sweet, which does not impress me, even if it appeals to my sweet tooth). Still a fairly good shop.

The run was fine. I seem to have been slow lately, so I tried to push it a little harder and averaged 11 km/h going out and 10 km/h coming back, for only about 6 km total. I don't have any short runs for next week's weekday runs, so I might only be able to reach one new shop, due to running budget constraints (104 km at 12 km/h is expected to be the maximum for 7 days) unless I take a rest day, which might happen just from spring weather.

Pierre Gagnaire: Chocolat Gianduja

My running is scaling down as I approach the weekend runs, which aren't planned as that long, although Sunday has room to grow if I decide to add to the basic plan of Jiyugaoka and Isetan as sources for great cakes for another cake-off. Specifically, I ran just under 10 km at about 10 km/h, which was actually a little faster than I had planned, so probably going to run right up to my running budget limit on Saturday (unless Fraoula finally comes through with the one cake of theirs that I've rated as great, in which case I'll maybe switch Limevert to Sunday).

The cake was Chocolat Gianduja, where the only other information on the card besides the Japanese pronunciation and price (600 yen) was "Chocolate Praline". This turned out to be mostly cream under the chocolate coating, half plain and half apparently hazelnut (or the name doesn't make sense). There was also a little spongy chocolate (or maybe Gianduja) cake in the middle and a flavorful sablé on the bottom that I'll guess was hazelnut, though I'm not that good at even basic identifications. It was definitely good cake, but did not have enough flavor to balance all that cream for me to get excited about it. Since it's very windy today and might rain, I chose to eat in (there are some tables in the sort of hallway next to the shop), where the lighting is not very flattering, at least for my phone camera.
.

FOBS: Mont-blanc

Finally visited another new shop from among those Sweet Sonobe has mentioned, (Patisserie) FOBS, which stands for "Farine Oeuf Beurre Sucre". It's over 8 km away and closes at 8 pm, so there was not a huge selection when I got there. I think the other cake was their Fraise, which also looked pretty standard, like what I chose, the Mont-blanc for 540 yen. 

This particular mont-blanc is about equal parts French chestnut paste, unsweetened cream, and meringue. The meringue had more than just sugar and eggs, but did not seem heavy on almond powder. Can you make meringue with flour, or does that destroy it? Also, alcohol somewhere, supposedly, and inside was a little cassis. It was definitely quite good (I should say that I like a mild chestnut) but it was not so distinctive., which I don't mind, but affects my rating.

I was a little slower today than yesterday, on purpose: 10 km/h going out and 9 km/h coming back. I mean to mention yesterday that I did shopping Monday, which gave me more than 6 km, so my Sunday to Tuesday 3-day runs broke 70 km. The next couple days I have more local shops in mind. The weekend runs too are more modest, maybe 25 km per day. The weather is not looking great, so it's just as well. I should have the budget to hit more new shops on the weekday, and I extend farther on the list of what's accessible. (I've got one 15 km each-way shop that's open until 9 pm. I'm saving that for last, but there are only a few others on the list right now.) 

Paris S'éveille: Poire Caramel

Did my long weekday run, maybe the longest I've done between two full work days (assuming I make it to work tomorrow). It was about 22 km round trip to Jiyugaoka, a fast 11 km/h out and a deliberately slow 9 km/h back with a Poire Caramel (ポワール　キャラメル; 600 yen), which is my 17th kind of fresh cake from Paris S'éveille. It's a fruit dome and the fruit has much of its texture, so it is not just gel, but the caramel was too subtle for me (in Bavarian cream, though maybe other places; I carefully read the description, but time and running wipes it away), so it was just like eating fruit, good fruit, but still just fruit, and running for fruit doesn't much interest me. Still, I consider this a superb shop and I want more from there eventually.

L'Atelier du Sucre: first cake, Sanguine

As planned, I ran the Shibamata History and Culture course, or at least I ran most of it. After the Shibamata Taishakuten temple, there are not any signs until the park, so I don't seem to have exactly the done the final part correctly. I suppose I should try again, which I should do anyway, since I want to get back to the cake shop. The run there was about 10 km/h apparently, which is faster than I expected. I was trying not to press it, since this is my longest recent run. I had the same speed from the end of the H&C course to the cake shop, but then dropped down to the high end of 8 km/h on the way home, not surprisingly, though some of that was navigation issues and a lot of it was the quite heavy crowds on the streets for the cherry blossom viewing. Total distance was between 42.5 and 43.0 kilometers, so I met my goal of a marathon length run. I'll do two shorter runs next week, am busy the week after that, so maybe I'll try a 50 km run in three weeks, though I haven't planned out where to go yet. I still have maybe three more H&C courses to do, but that last couple are ~100 km, so probably not until the fall, if ever.

The Shibamata course is pretty nice, although the temple entrance shopping street was packed, so so running it would be better to skip that. Like many courses, the beginning is not marked that I could see, and no signs after the temple until you get to the end (or near the end), where they have of the full-sized maps. Otherwise, it seems like a nice neighborhood, especially compared to the bleak view running east from Tokyo, though that is skewed by the fact that I need roads that will connect me reasonable well between bridges.

The cake was the Sanguine, that is, blood (orange), which is used with one layer of cream. There is also Bergamot orange, which I suppose is the slices on top. The other cream layer is milk chocolate. The bottom has chocolate crunch and paliné. I done that this is sandwiched between probably a almond biscuit, though I haven't backed either for a while, so I'm not sure that I could distinguish from a hazelnut one. It was simple and cheep (only 400 yen), but I'll have to say it's excellent, so I'll have to get back there, which is not very convenient, but maybe I'll work it into a longer training run.

Note that I was fairly restrained after all the gorging the previous two days and did not have any other snacks along the way, or even a sports drink (which would probably be bad if it were hotter and I was sweating more). I did have a couple English muffins with tea milk jam immediately upon getting home.

[Saturday, Isetan] Le Salon Jacques Borie: Mille-fieulle and Tarte Citron

Took a rest at Jacques Borie, which is the most expensive café I go, by far. This is café cake, which follows different rules. I'm not even going to get into the pricing, since you're paying a lot for atmosphere (though the 10% service charge could be said to cover that).

Had the Mille-feuille, which is vanilla cream (not custard) in between fairly loose layers, so it was more like vingt-feuille than mille-feuille. This is not necessarily a complaint. Because it was cream, not custard, the inner layer could not support much force, so the pastry layers need to be fairly easy to cut through for it not to be quite difficult to eat. It was unique and excellent, as it should be. The lemon tart was definitely good, but not so much that I was too impressed, at least not by the couple bites I had. So the café is still excellent. I'll save up and maybe go back again in a year.

I also got the new Canelé au Caramel from Henri le Roux, C.B.S., Chocolat, and Framboise. These were disappointing. I'll say they are good, but they aren't anything I need at all. They are bit heavy without being particularly chewy and I can't recall much rum flavor. These run at least through April, so I'm still waiting for the cake to come back to see whether it was really as great as I thought the first time around.

[Friday] Angelina: Mont Blanc and Mont Blanc Chocolat

No running, but I went out for lunch a Angelina and get Mont Blanc and Mont Blanc Chocolat (demi size; 500 yen each). The tea salon and cake counter just reopened in the new building (or maybe it was renovated; I wasn't really paying attention to that part of Ginza), which is now called Marronnier Ginza 2, mark of Marronnier Gate, since, I guess it marks the start of Marronnier Avenue, so chestnut dominates everything.

There are many styles of mont-blanc. This particular one follows the more common reverse form of putting the white cream on the inside and the chestnut paste on the outside. The base is a sugary (no almond) meringue, and the inside is only cream. The chestnut cover is relative thin, but not inappropriately so. The balance if the standard Mont Blanc cake is actually excellent, although people who like a heavy chestnut flavor would be disappointed. The chocolate version is relatively sweet chocolate and complete hides any chestnut flavor; it is good but in this case the balance doesn't really add up to anything special, so I'm not in a hurry to try the other flavors and variations (they also have a couple token cakes).