Noix de Beurre: Meringue Chantilly

Today was no running due to having gotten a flu shot, so to reward myself for not running when I shouldn't (or really, because it was somewhere I could go with minimal effort), I visited another quite fine shop which I've had just one great cake from, Noix de Beurre, at Isetan. This time I got Meringue Chantilly, which is exactly what the name says and it looks like: meringue with whipped cream. The center meringue is actually dense (and took some work to get through, but the outside part is light enough as a guide). It's good (and cheap) but not enough to convince me that this shop needs to be promoted. I've got room to promote two shops, and one might be Coffee Parlor Hill Top (when and if they reopen in December), but there's a three-way tie even after that.

Pièce Montée: Fromage Cru

Monday, I ran some revised neighborhood loops, only semi-successfully. The Minami-Aoyama east loop was successful clockwise and the Minami-Motomachi--Moto-Akasaka loop was successful counterclockwise, only I decided to change it on the fly, so now I need to run it clockwise again. Also, since now I'm allowing links through subway access tunnels, I should had a Kita-Aoyama east loop (which has at least part of the park-like part of Meiji-Jinguu Gaien, as well as a children's park on the public housing side, but it was the return of Starbucks that really triggered my considering it (there is also a Japanese confectionery, which I may or may not included, depending my next look in the shop when it's open). So I'm adding nearby loops I need to do faster than I can catch up back to expanding outward. No cake that day, but I was feeling like pizza and tried some place that I won't bother to name. Not the worst, but probably never need to go back.

Tuesday was an indoor workout day, so I just used a bicycle to go to
Pièce Montée to get a 5th cake, to try to resolve the boundary between exceptional and quite fine shops (it's the shops with just one great cake that are the problem). Since I've had luck with them lately (and the selection is pretty small), I went with Fromage Cru. Workout went fine, as the did the cake. I'm rating this as definitely good: very nice balance of raspberry (there's filling) and cheesecake, but simple, with a tart base. Note sure that I got the "feather" and the raspberry back in the correct locations after I got it home, but seems somewhat reasonable.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-feuille Chocolat over Frédéric Cassel's Mont Blanc Jewel

Sunday was a big day for running and cake. First, after doing my indoor workout, I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi and got both cakes for the cake-off; Mille Feuille Chocolat from Jean-Paul Hévin and Mont Blanc Jewel from Frédéric Cassel. This was a third-round cake-off between two one-and-one seasonal cakes (the JPH for just 2 weeks this time but probably FC's will stick around through Christmas, I would imagine, but I'm not sure).

For running, I made my fourth attempt at running the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop from memory, which is about 22 km long, plus a few kilometers to get there and the few kilometers that I had already run to Ginza. On the way, I noticed that I was in the right time window and there wasn't a huge line at Haritts Donuts & Coffee in Uehara, so I stopped (and waited for a couple people ahead of me) and got, I think, the Choco Plain (Donut), which despite being plain, has sugar (but not icing) on it. This is a very lightly fried, very spongy donut, though not as course a sponge as a typical yeast donut and definitely an improvement on various other donut shops, but not so exciting that I need a return trip.

Despite haven't gotten more than half way the first three attempts and making another course change that I never done even in early bicycle attempts, I was able to do it clockwise. Real time was just over 3 hours, which isn't bad considering stops (the longest to wade through the crowd to get to a shop near Shimo-Kitazawa station and back to take a picture for a site on a future side loop). I'll probably try counterclockwise next weekend, since I have three days.

The cake-off was somewhat anticlimactic. Like the previous round with the Mont Blanc Jewel, I couldn't sense why I had originally put it on the list (probably because at the time it was a mont-blanc with most of the chestnut task masked by fruit), so the Mille Feuille Chocolat, which was definitely better, wins and the Mont Blanc Jewel gets demoted to semi-great, which is still a high rating. Not sure what new cakes next month will bring out, but if nothing else, I can do what might be the last third-round of two-time winners.

Ryoura, Fromage Cru

Friday night was a neighborhood run. I only managed the revised Minami-Motomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya--Sugachou--Shinanomachi loop, which itself is just 4.17 km.

Saturday, I had some time before a 10 am Skype appointment, so I went out before 8 am. At the last minutes, I decided that I'd try the updated Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, which I hadn't reviewed and failed. Still, I went around to the new sites I had added that prompted the update and confirmed and photographs them (one of which I decided was a mistake to add). Since it nearby, next to route, and famous, I tried looking in on Path Cafe, which was full and had people waiting and eating take-out outside. The freshly made Croissants and Pain au Chocolat were already spoken for, so I would have had to wait 30 minutes. I could buy a Cannele immediately, so I went with that. On one hand, it seem perfect, not like my fake ones (which don't replicate the outside coating). On the other hand, in the end, they were too strong for me, at least without some sort appropriate beverage. Maybe I'll not that into real canelé. If I get by there nearer 8 am (when they open), I'd still like to try their Pain au Chocolat. Coming back, I could do the updated Jinguumae east and Minami-Motomachi--Moto-Akasaka loops clockwise.

The cake run came from after 11 am. I went to Yoga and visited Ryoura for a 16th cake. I've had the least luck with seasonal variations there and recent good look else with Fromage Cru, so I got that from Ryoura and brought it back for eating at home. It's two layers, so I suspect it's actually a rare/baked cheesecake combo, but whatever it was, it was definitely excellent. Not sure what a great one would be like, but I'll have to consider that when I get to a third-round cake-off with my favorite cheesecake.

Frédéric Cassel: Rouleau Marron

Thursday, I was back in Ginza for a cake from Frédéric Cassel. I don't have much respect for roll cake, but I got the Rouleau Marron as the only new cake. The French term for roll cake is roulé, whereas I think rouleau is like a sushi roll. In Japanese, ロール is English "roll", whereas this uses the reverse ルーロ, so it might be a Japanese pun. Lots of chestnut paste (outside) and yogurt cream with with some chestnut pieces (inside). There's a little bit of chocolate on top, and even a little of that mixed in made for excellent cake, but overall I have to say it was just definitely good. I'm still not convinced that roll cake is a good idea, but this was interesting.

Camélia: Chocolate Cake

Wednesday, I worked the latest I had for some time, but since the plan was to go to Camélia in Ginza, which closes at 2 am (the shop that is; I'm sure Ginza is open for business much later), no problem. Also, it was an indoor workout day, so I went by bicycle. This time I remembered to bring my own (insulated, zipper) bag, so I didn't have to waste another super fancy one of theirs for my one piece of cake. Since this was my third cake, after two excellent ones, I figured it was my last try to get a great one from this new shop for a while, so I went for the Chocolate Cake (the Japanese name didn't include Cake, but I can't remember whether it was just the Japanese "Choco" or like the French, "Chocolat"; also, the actual Latin name was written without a space and I'm not sure whether it "Chocolatcake" or "Chocolatecake"). This is chocolate glaze over chocolate mousse over probably chocolate cream or ganache over a chocolate sponge/biscuit. Very simple, but nice chocolate, so I can say that this was excellent two. This shop is firmly in the quite fine category of shops, so I hope to get back to it in about a year.

I'll need to find a new, new shop and I've realized that I can't ignore the one in Meiji Memorial Hall any more (on the groups that it seemed more of a restaurant and the building smells bad to me), because I realize now that they have a dessert counter at Ginza Mitsukoshi. That means I have to breakup revise my neighborhood map near there, so now I've got three loops that I thought I had memorized that need to be re-verified.

L'Abricotier, Fromage Cru

Tried the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop again, starting at about 7:40 am. I realized that I would actually feel bad if I was successful, because I've gotten used to running it, or at least starting to run it. No danger: I got the new part added for the shrine I discovered last time, corrected the mistake from last time, and made (after reaching the far west edge of the loop) the following turn that I was worried about late time and found that I couldn't remember what to do after that. Not what I did, as it happens, so I wrapped things up around 9:40 am.

From there, I set off for cake from L'Abricotier, which was closer than I expected, so I around more than half an your early (under their recent business hours). It wouldn't have been bad to wait, except, I was wet from the rain. Running and wet isn't so bad, but it's not warm enough for standing and wet. I went to Kouenji Stn., which isn't actually very interesting, and read news on my phone before returning. It was still raining and I was still a little early (though now there were people waiting), so I ran for about ten minutes to keep warm. I decided to eat out (and let someone go ahead of me, who took the last seat, while I was deciding what to get) so I got takeout. My spreadsheet showed I had never had Fromage Cru (rare cheesecake), which surprised me, though it's not something I usually go for, so I got that as my 20th type of cake from them. Obviously, there is fruit on it, and and a little of the inside was fruit-flavored, but it is not obvious what. Probably a red fruit mixture. As it happens, I was in the mood for Fromage Cru, which apparently I should get more of. I'll need to remember how today's was and compare it to Dalloyau's, which is still hanging on the greats list. This one hit me right, so I can call it excellent.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Sainte-Maure

This should be short: I did a run down to Au Bon Vieux Temps. Didn't set an alarm and managed to sleep until 8 am, so it seemed a little late, since I wasn't able to get out of the house until a little before 9 am, but I could arrive at 10:30 am, which is actually a pretty good time (before 10 am, some cakes aren't out yet, even though they are open). I choose the Sainte-Maure, because I recognized it as something that had been around for a while, yet I had never tried it. I only got as far as reading that it had cheese before I was busy ordering, paying, and getting my cake arranged. Still not sure that was in it: probably some sort of red fruit, not too strong. The name is the name of the cheese, which probably means its the name of a region. It's goat cheese, which is a first for me with cake, as far as I can remember, and the cake seemed to be a rare cheesecake. Eating it was like eating not wet ice cream (which is a good thing), partially because I chilled it down to zero before eating it, but the same can be said for other of their cakes that are not cheese. Definitely excellent and unique. Not like what usually comes to mind when I think "cake", but I'll definitely be more interested in any other cheese cakes they have, though I've already had their Fromage Cru and it was just good.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-Feuille Chocolat over Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise

Tomida Farm Black Fig Tart

I finally had the cake-off that I've been looking forward to for almost two months: a second-round match for Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-Feuille Chocolat, which is available just the second half of October. It lost its first round, so I needed someone from the losers bracket. Fortunately, I was able to get one available two weeks ago in the form of Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise (according to the I saw today). I ran for the first cake. I had brought an insulated bag, but they use such large boxes that it was not enough. I remember that there was one place like that, but not which one. I went directly from there running to Ginza Mitsukoshi, arriving a little before opening. I wasn't at the front, but I was the first one through the desert section, which was awkward, given my attire and that each group of attendants have to greet me. JPH is in the back, in their own glass-walled room. The mille-feuille was available, as promised. On the way back, I was walking past Frédéric Cassel and saw that their fig tart I had just seen advertised was bakery type rather than cake. I had planned to get a pastry during my run but this seemed like a better option, so I turned and bought the Tomida Farm Black Fig Tart. Turning, I think someone said, "As expected", as they thought I was there for that, though I had passed them initially. I had seen the social media post, though, so I recognized it, just it was on top rather than in the cake case and they recommended heating it up "a little" (they checked, but they didn't have any more precise information). I tried 2.5 min at 100 degC, which seemed reasonable and warmed it without destroying it. It was excellent, as I would expected.

Running, I tried to do the

neighborhood course Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop, but I hadn't reviewed it the night before (if I really knew it, I shouldn't have to). I got farther than last time, but I had changed part and though I remembered why and where to turn initially, and then where I logically had to go next, I wasn't sure how to get back on the old track, so the run out ended after Mister Donut Shimokitazawa. Like last time, I took that as an excuse to turn home. I went by the shortest route, and ran into a shrine I hadn't known about between where I screwed up this time and where I did the previous time, so the map is changing again. Hope I can remember later this time, or at least remember to check the map the night before (on the day would be against the rules).

Just before failure,

I had bought a France Croissant from Chez Lui. Not sure about the name, but it's their #1 item, supposedly, and it looked sufficiently sugared to be preferable to a real croissant. I hadn't packed enough energy cookies for the run, or this would have been one pastry more than I had intended for the week. I deviated coming back to take some pictures of sites on more nearby loops, or confirm that the site was not needed (in one case).

For the cake off, I'm still having trouble with the strong fruitiness of the Finger Ruby Fig Framboise, despite at the same time wanting to keep it around for its distinctiveness. The mixture of mille-feuille and high-quality chocolate made be choose JPH's cake as the winner, so I definitely want to do another cake-off with it next weekend, this time a third-round for cakes that are one and one. There's a seasonal Frédéric Cassel cake that meets that criterion.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Tatin

Went by bicycle (since the main exercise was indoors) to Ginza Mitsukoshi and got my target cake, Tarte Tatin. Not sure whether it will continue after today, since I see on Facebook that a fig tart is starting tomorrow and running to mid-November. This has a pretty hard pecan sablé base, which is what set it apart enough that I can call it excellent (not that tarte tatin are so common).

Camélia, Carmelina

Camélia, Carmelina

Went to Camélia in Ginza for a second cake, since the first one was excellent. Got the cake I was looking at, Carmelina (the "n" is silent in the Japanese at least). This is a relative thick dacquoise base with large bits of hazelnuts under cream made of caramel and mascarpone cheese (based on a user post; I didn't try to research the card that closely, since I forget during running anyway). Definitely my kind of thing and excellent. I like the flavors, though the usual ones, and the texture mix is great. This seems to be a quite fine shop. I'll probably be back next week for the third cake. I only ran one way, walking back to protect the cake, and my side, which is still giving me trouble. I'm probably over stretching it, so I'll watch it. It's not the side that needs the most stretching anyway.

Monmouth Tea, Black Cherry Tart

For today's cake, I planned to visit a neighborhood shop for a first cake, as well as run five recently updated neighborhood loops, all successfully, though two I still have to do counterclockwise to complete. One new site was the Monmouth Tea shop, which also has a tart, quiche, and muffins. I wasn't sure how cake-like or pastry-like the tart would be, but took it anyway. I was priced on the low side, so I wasn't surprised that it was a butter tart rather than something richer, but was plenty substantial. I'm calling it a pastry, but it was excellent, so even if I'm look for cake, I might stop there again and see whether the tart flavor has changed.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram over En Vedette's En Vedette

Monday, which was a holiday, after a morning appointment which ran late, I went out around noon to try to gather cakes for a cake-off. The main target was Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram which is a standard that I wasn't too worried about having to be early for, but I've had experience coming too late for En Vedette's signature cake, so I had a back-up in mind in the same direction. Also, it seems seems to be on rainy days that I've going to En Vedette, although Monday was relative light.

I stopped early or snack at a future neighborhood course site, Chez Kazama, out in Ichiban-chou neighborhood in Chiyoda-ku and got a Croissant d'Almonde. It was good, and had some almond paste inside, plus the powered sugar on the outside to give it sweet kick, but dry for my taste, though perhaps not really for the type. Part of my review of pastries is turning out to be a review of what type I should be targeting. Later, I got a regular Croissant (not shown) from Dalloyau (at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi), who I once thought great croissants. Note sure whether they changed (they have a lot since then) or just my perception but, while definitely good, it was not extraordinary as a baked item, being more bready than I expected.

I was successful at getting En Vedette from said store, and took the train to Ginza to get the Tan Gram and took them home to chill. Meanwhile, after a half-lunch, I went out to do neighborhood course loops in Sengadaya that I had updated. I was successful, but since revised one loop. That took about an hour (including taking photos of three sites).

The result of the cake off was a win for Tan Gram. Unfortunately, En Vedette, with it's rum, doesn't pair with everything, so the choice of green tea (which goes with chocolate fine) maybe didn't match well. Still, two great cakes.

L'Authentique (of Saitama), Trois Chocolat and Mille-feuille

Friday and Saturday, I was busy (and there was a typhoon), so no cake.

Sunday I got cake, but not Tokyo cake: Saitama cake from Pâtisserie L'Authentique. It was cake for two, so only half a piece each, but both the Trois Chocolat and Mille-Feuille seemed excellent (though the mousse cake was warmer than I liked). 

Sunday night, I went running, with no bicycle, assist and did the updated Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop counterclockwise, so that's settled as long as I don't look at it. Meanwhile, I'm doing a review of would neighborhood course from the root, so that's been sucking up time and I've found problems I've avoiding dealing with and some new sites close to home, but I'm working on it. One part is the Jinguumae 4 loop, which just goes around one block (though a full-sized block) to pass two shops.

Frédéric Cassel, Gateau Halloween

Went to Frédéric Cassel for cake, since they are my top choice of shops having new cakes (though this was the only one, and its only early October). I still need to sort out some overlap between quite fine and exceptional and exceptional and quite exceptional shops (and longer term, the overlap between quite exceptional and superb, though I'm already 5 cakes ahead on Origines Cacao along those lines), but not today. Anyway, I was looking for a different cake, but maybe it's already out of the line-up (no end date was given in the posting). I ended up getting Gateau Halloween, without very high expectations (holiday theme cakes tend not to be the best) but trusting Frédéric Cassel not to give me bad cake. I went there running, by the way, and ran back, as the rain is still light (the heavy rain warning because of the approaching typhoon is still 24 hours away). The cake is mostly kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) on top, a layer of rum and raisin, and a brownie base. Definitely good and probably relatively healthy.

Pièce Montée, Thé Vert

No running today. Since I planned (and did) my indoor workout, I went to Ginza by bicycle and visited Pièce Montée for a fourth cake. I decided to be more adventurous and get Thé Vert, which is working hard to be Japanese. Besides the green tea, it has a couple beans, and lots of sesame (seems like). The top fell off the base tart, but I could put it back, though the very top might have originally been better centered. Anyway, it was definitely good and had similar texture and sweetness to other cakes. Interesting enough to recommend but not really my thing.

This shop is now tied for top of the quite fine shops and could replace one of shops at the bottom of the exceptional list, but not today.

Camélia, Myu

Ran to a get a first cake from a relatively new shop in Ginza that I saw on TV, P. Camélia. Looked very nice, in terms of atmosphere and selection. I got Myu, a blackberry tea chocolate mousse cake marked as the recommend cake. Unfortunately, because enduring my run back, which was longer than I expected, I got distracted and didn't get it into the refrigerator quickly, so it was probably in poorer shape than it should have been, and I wouldn't have minded a colder temperature when eating, but it wasn't overly sweet (which warmth can do), so it was fine. I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt and saying it was excellent. Certainly the flavor was good, particularly for a mousse cake, including a good aftertaste.

Ralph's Coffee: Cheesecake

Wanted to try a new shop on my neighborhood route and the nearest loop is the Jinguumae central loop, so I looked around and found a coffee and doughnut shop away from the main route that I hadn't noticed and completely reworked it. I failed the new loop, but then I found another shop I wanted to add near the first one and the only way to accommodate both is to give them their own tiny loop, so I didn't need to mess with the loop anyway. It will take awhile to undo all the changes.

I did manage the goal of visiting Ralph's Coffee shop and had their cheese cake. It was definitely good, and different from other cheesecakes I've had recently, maybe coarser, if that makes sense. Not really worth the price, though, but then it's trying to be a nice shop in a nice area. The pastries looked more reasonable, though I've sworn off evening pastries.

Cake-off: Au Bon Vieux Temps' Pourriture over Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise

Saturday as a series of failure: Route 99 does not have fresh cake, I don't know Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop well enough to run (remembered where and why I changed part, but not how exactly and it wasn't obvious on the fly), and 1 pm is too late to get a cake at Au Bon Vieux Temps'.

Also I fell early on, so I'm got road rash and some clothes that will have to be replaced sooner. I did get a couple fresh viennoiseries, Kouign Amann and Chauson aux Pommes Caramélisées (I think) from Paris S'éveille and Sadaharu Aoki, respectively, both great.

Sunday, I had a comfortable run to Au Bon Vieux Temps, arriving at about 10:30 a.m, which is early enough, at least on a rainy Sunday, to get the cake I wanted, the Pourriture. I matched it with another recent fig cake by taking the train to Pierre Gagnaire and getting Figner Ruby Fig Framboise and coming back. After lunch I compared these and was happy to keep them on the great list (we'll see how I feel when they have to match established cakes). I decided I liked the simplicity of the Pourriture, though that means the other cake is the one that's available from a cake-off against the JPH late-October traditional cake, which is was a little worried about, since I didn't have anything else available for that role. I also expect a first-round cake off next week, so that might produce another candidate.

Afternoon was riding around, verifying no great cakes as a couple shops and taking a few pictures and verifying a few shops around the southeast periphery of the established course. Evening was a full indoor workout.

Frédéric Cassel: Inspiration Guava

Because my hip was hurting, as one reason, I bicycled to Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi and got this month's inspiration: Inspiration Guava. This is very tropical, with guava, lime, lemon, baba (okay, nothing to do with the tropics), rum, and vanilla with a coconut sablé as the base. From anywhere else, I'd probably pass this up, but I can count on Frédéric Cassel and this was excellent. I ate it after coming home and doing a full indoor workout (the other reason for not running; I should really be doing these every three days), which takes me about an hour, but for 14 sets, I should be able to do them in 35 minutes, if I made more of them timed intense 1-minute workouts, which right now the weight training isn't. Maybe I'll that try once and see how it goes.

Pièce Montée, Mont-Blanc

Getting to the last of the quite fine shops with only two cakes, I ran to Pièce Montée in Ginza. The selection is small, maybe only the few cakes shown online. I went with the Mont-Blanc. It's is small and not cheap, but that is what I expect for the neighborhood (though it's not that far to the nearest Mr. Donut, which is under an overpass on the Ginza border). I toured shops in Marunouchi and did not find anything I needed to get back to. Tomorrow I expect to visit Mitsukoshi, so I left that and Ginza 6 for then.

At more than an hour after starting, I was in Hibiya Park, having doubled back from Shin-Marunouchi Building rather than completing the loop around the imperial grounds. I was hungry so I need to decide whether I would try to eat cake outside, always difficult, to just have energy cookies. I went for the cake and was glad I did. First of all, it was loose in the box, so I don't know kind of shape it would have been if I had run it home, though it was going good for about 30 minutes of walking, mostly in tunnels. The chestnut paste was well sprinkled with sugar, so it wasn't too bitter for me, but the cream inside was also not just plain cream. Even in the dark, it was obviously brown. There wasn't really a chocolate taste, at least combined with the chestnut, so maybe it was also flavored with chestnuts. I'll ask next time I go. The base was meringue, but I just had to eat that last by itself. I'll be going back because I decided that, simple as it was, it was perfect as itself, so great cake. Terrible picture, so I think I'll keep it off Twitter.

Left hip started hurting again after about 10 km. Hope that's not going to stay a thing.

As I review, I miscounted before and I have 50 quite fine shops, compared to a target of 32, which means 18 of them are actually just fine, leaving only 46 shops for the current fine shop list, which is up to 111. That's a probably for a different year, though if I get enough new shops that are reasonably good, I could start shifting those down to just other visited shops.

Michalak, Religieuse

Monday, I was obsessed with the recently revised, than re-revised, then revised again Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. I'm still a little fuzzy on navigating the stairs at Daikanyama Stn./Dixsept shopping center, but I don't have to be so strict there. However, I noticed "it Coffee" off my course and shifted the course to add it, so Sunday's success was nullified, and I turned too soon after the new chocolate shop, so I failed Monday near the end. I was, however able to do the updated/corrected Shibuya central loop clockwise, so there was progress, and the run was really refreshing until the 10 km mark, when suddenly my hip was tired (this loop might have the most stairs, especially now, at least until I get to the part I split off from the main Akasaka loop).

Cake came on Tuesday, which is also the first day of the month, a good day to go to Isetan. I had the afternoon off, so I sent to Isetan and got two things. JPH's new cake in the lineup is an excellent one I've had before, so I didn't need get cake from them, but Michalak had their Religieuse, which I haven't had and I was two cakes behind on them. Unfortunately, they removed the almost identical Paris-Brest, which I hadn't done a third-round cake-off with yet, but I can wait a year. The other thing I got was a fresh viennoiserie (avoiding the vaguer term "pastry") from Andersen, the Choco Stripe. I had the latter first, before going out for exercise. It was good, but the concept sounds better than the practice, I think, because having the chocolate layered in loses crispness.

The exercise was once again practicing the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop. I could go about an hour before I didn't have it memorized correctly. I added a shop with Australian sweets to the loop near Shim-Kitazawa station and shifted the course after that so I go by the Kitazawa Koushindou (a kind of traditional road-side shrine). Near the end, coming south from the northern most point near Hatagaya, I added a site marked Myōdōkai Kyōdan on a plaque, which is a Buddhist society, although the building just looks like a really nice residence. Still, I like this route more than staying on the main road, so I'll keep the change, and keep practicing until the route stabilizes and I learn it.

The Religieuse (which French and English authorities agree is a pastry but is cake for my purposes) really tasted very similar to Paris-Brest, but I prefer the latter. Still, excellent, so I don't begrudge them the variation, other than they timed it to coincide with JPH's introduction of Religieuse, which was announced a month ago. I should say that, though they told me hazelnuts, the recipe they showed me indicated, besides mostly caramel cream, pate almond. The top is whipped cream and a little fudge square.