L'Abricotier: Mont-Blanc

Was off in the afternoon, so I did a run to L'Abricotier, had cake, and walked back. On the way back, I tried following the Chuuou Line, which I had not done for long enough that I had forgotten what it was like. The fastest route is along Waseda-doori, which I'm not fond of, but I'm not sure I like along the train line better, at least where cars are trying to use the same trick, since there is not that much space along the road (though it's common for people to walk there and there are fewer traffic signal stops). There is perhaps no perfect route.

For cake, I finally got the Mont-Blanc, as my 11th cake. I might not have thought of it if the person ahead of had not ordered one, since they are made to order, so there are no examples to attract my attention, just a little card with an explanation on the shelf with almost all the rest of the cakes. I ate in and this is almost a café desert rather than fresh cake, as they recommend eating within an hour of purchase rather than the usual same day.

In a way, this mont-blanc was perfect in its simplicity: just a biscuit, probably the traditional almond, but it seemed a little coarse for meringue, so maybe there was some flour in there; a light whipped cream center, and probably the reason for the one-hour limit, as this is going to collapse over time; and a thick covering of chestnut paste, which was not too heavy a taste for me. This was clearly assembled on the plate in this case, but you can get it as take-out. It was definitely good, but I'm not enough of a fan of just chestnut paste to rate this higher than that. Mont-blanc that I've though were great always had something else going on to balance the chestnut, such as cassis.

I walked back partially to conserve my strength and partially because I'm a little worried about my right ankle and I wanted maintain control. It seems okay and I'm still thinking an endurance run is possible Sunday. I was worried about the cold after today's few ours outside, just because I lost finger strength and was really hungry in the afternoon, but I'll be maintaining a continuous supply of pastries and energy cookies and not they are saying that Sunday will be a more reasonable temperature for being outside. I should mention that today was a low temperature advisory for being the coldest weather in Tokyo for 48 years, but running generates enough of its own heat as long as it's not cold and raining and today even walking I was fine except for my hands.