Cake-off: Viron's Baba over Pièce Montée's Mont-Blanc

There was and was not a lot of running for this cake-off, in poor weather. Friday night, I ran to Pièce Montée's and got one of the last Mont-Blanc. Weird thing this time, they asked me to pay first, which is totally normal, but by coming around the counter and (telling me) just holding out their hand for the money. Japanese use trays to pass money, so I was expecting her to bring a money tray like in JPH (though it is a pretty unstable to carry money). I visited FC (again) on the way back and confirmed their two new cakes this month. They're both petit version of their main Christmas cakes, one chocolate with some whipped cream and one strawberry of various forms, including mixed with (coating) chocolate for the outside. They might great, but I've got a lot of other shops to visit, so I'll wait until I'm in more need or they have something that looks like it could become a regular thing. I walked my cake back, though at a good pace. This shop opens and closes late, so getting cake at night for the next day is the only way to go (plus, limited selection on Saturday's and closed Sundays).

Saturday, I woke up with balance problems (still feel a little odd) that are unnoticeable when I exercise. I assume something broke off and worked its way to the wrong part of my ear. If it's bad again tomorrow I'll have to look up what one does about that (since I've seen this on a health shop, I assume I also saw some home exercise, but I can't remember what it is). Anyway, I let myself sleep in longer, so Viron was almost open by the time I left the house, and I went to the bulk grocery out that way to stock up on nuts and walked from there with an umbrella. Still no problem getting the Baba. Still no new (non-coffee flavored) cakes. Last year they had some special Christmas cakes and in their case I should indulge, since I'm just getting more behind on them, due to lack of new cakes.

The Baba and the Mont-Blanc are both standards in general. Viron's is the only one I'm calling great, and it still satisfied me with its strong taste from a generous amount of rum, and nice volume overall. The Mont-Blanc is the opposite, being rather small and being pretty plain, but not in a bad way at all. It's definitely something that, after eating, I could eat another one, which is one sign of greatness. But I liked the Baba better, so it wins. Also, the Mont-Blanc it's not really special in it's class, so while its a good enough representation of that class, I've got enough other one's, including ones that I would miss, that I can't say it's great. That's two times in a row, so it gets demoted to semi-great. Either way, it's a quite fine shop, though I've had enough of their small collection that it will probably be a long time before I get back there, if ever.