Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Mont D'or's over Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne

With today (Monday), finally catching up on blogging. I've been out sick, but today I went out and visited Isetan, among other errands. I believe this will be the last weekend for an indefinitely time for Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, otherwise getting it in an 4th round cake-off would not be a priority, since I still have lower ranked 3rd rounds to do. I matched it against another two losses and one win limited-time (through February) cakes, Mont D'or from Sadaharu Aoki's. I'm planning something more challenging for next week.

The Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne had the usual problem of being over-engineered as a chocolate delivery device, though I remain fond of it as as an old classic. Mont D'or as a nice smooth chocolate with enough chestnut to give it a special flavor and an accept of cassis/currant and I give it the win.

Besides cake, I also proved my recovery by performing my standard non-weights (mostly upper body) muscle training and then doing a run taking in a neighborhood clump, my Shinanomachi Stn. one (just 3.577 km length by itself), and a counter clockwise confirmation of my revised Samon-chou loop, spending about an hour total, though there was some walking while I grabbed a candy snack and firmed the last loop before heading for grocery shopping.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne over Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache

Still catching up. I'm pretty sure I slipped in some running Wednesday, just a run on local courses, but I can't remember the details now. Before that, just out shopping, I got a Choco-Fashion from Tully's Coffee, which is just a chain coffee shop. However, it was definitely good, as an old-fashion donut, which is good enough that I should start adding these to my local running map as a snack resource, though I'll skip any that require major adjustments.

Thursday, I definitely did not run, as I woke with a headache and was worried about having caught a cold. I did, however, go to Isetan, where I scored Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne and Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache, on the grounds that these both are expected to disappear Jan. 15. I questioned the Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne last time. I think I managed to raise the temperature a little bit this time, and enjoyed the chocolate more. I still love the cake base and pistachio of the Fraisier Pistache, but have to admit that I probably put and kept this on the great list just to remind myself of this classic without having to make it myself. It is excellent, but I should consider shortening my list of greats, so it takes a loss and gets a question mark, while Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne finally gets a win in its third cake-off round.

Cake-off: Ryoura's Soyeux over Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne

Friday, I did a run down to Bread, Espresso & and got a sweet bread/tradition cake, a Chocolat et Marron Kouglof. It was good as sweet breads go, though I would have been happen with a more tradition bread. Why is there also a chocolate chunk and pecan cookie in the photo? It was also someone's last day at work, and departing treats have been the custom the last several years, though not when I started. The cookie was definitely better than the cake, but then it came from shop that's apparently at Isetan, Flavor. I should look for them, since they have at least cheesecake online, which could count as fresh cake.

Saturday: Been having trouble with being behind on Jean-Paul Hévin so that one cake even slipped completely between my fingers (an Isetan exclusive that I saw for the first time this week and apparently ended Wednesday) and another I only managed to get in a first-round cake-off (the chocolate mille-feuille from the extra cake-off), though I would have wanted a second, so (misrepresenting cause and effect) I was determined to find something to match Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne. However, I was busy most of the morning and late afternoon and evening, so I had to be in a hurry (as much as I can running these days). Still, I made time for taking some photos of some new places and even discovered a whole new class of landmarks, the "churches" of Tenrikyou, a Japanese new religion. I'm suspicious when Wikipedia says there are 1.75 million followers, since that's 1% of the population, which makes it sound like a pretty made up number. Anyway, there is an old church/temple in the Aoyama/Jinguumae area and I've found several others in other neighborhoods covered by my neighbor course.

For cake, first I tried Paris S'éveille, where I was not completely shocked to find that the season for Un Dimanche a Paris had ended. Next I went to Ryoura (another 25 minutes of running, perhaps) and was successful at finding Soyeux.

I like the idea of Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, but I'm still having trouble finding the greatness, so I'm putting in probation. I definitely like pistachio and fruit in a mousse cake better, so Soyeux gets its first win, in the the second round of cake-offs.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille over Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne

Started off at about 10 am for Ginza Mitsukoshi to get cakes for a first-round cake-off between Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille and Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, which was just restored in the August line-up. Besides being available from the same department store, they are from my top two favorite shops and are both unique among my great list. As types, though they are completely opposites. This round goes to Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille. The simplicity and quality of the filling is key, but sugar coating of the pastry really gives this cake a nice texture as well. I really need to try one of their variations. The macaron is sort of an excuse to eat a lot of fairly solid dark chocolate, which is not a bad thing, and I like a dry chewy macaron compared to a moist one, in general.

I did about another 90 minutes of running later, taking photos to fill in/verify a bunch of locations on my local running courses, in this case on the east side, so I ended up running around the American Embassy. In the last couple years or so, they built a big commercial development across from it that has nothing much of interest to me (I'm interested in the old Austrian cake shop on the far side, though they are always closed Sundays). As part of that, there is a kind of park running through it with narrow twisty paths, so I did not notice the cop in the middle until fairly close. Not a problem, but I wonder how far he can see just standing there. Maybe it it's not that dense and you can see through well enough once you get used to it, at least from that exact spot.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, Feuilletine Praliné

Was at Tokyo Midtown and picked up pieces of the two cakes I haven't blogged yet (but I've had multiple times before): Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne (マカロン ショコラ　ア ランシエンヌ, 699 yen) and Feuilletine Praliné (フィユティーヌ プラリネ, 624 yen). These are "Saisonnier", but regulars. The first is just what it sounds like, a cake-sized macaron of dark chocolate with extra dark chocolate around it as decoration. As a macaron, it is on the dry side, both the filling, which is pretty solid, and the shell part, but as cake it is decadently chocolaty. I'm going to say this is great, but I can't be objective about it and actually I've had times when I was tired of it from getting it too often. I really need to compare it to something else.

But the second doesn't really help, because I like it about the same. It's similar in being meringue, though is very airy (it's hard to cut and keep the dome intact when you're trying to split it with someone) compared to the crisp shell of the macaron ancienne and it's milk chocolate, along with the obvious nuts, but one has the same impression of eating something more decadent than a usual cake, though still more substantial than a mousse cake. I'll also say this is great and look forward to comparing with other great cakes. These put me at 26 cakes posted for JPH, so it's going to take a while for me to catch up with other shops, probably next year, but I'm getting close. I don't recall there being that many more regular seasonal cakes. Perhaps there will be a couple new weekend-only specials for the holidays. Still, there's the one coffee-flavored cake over at Marunouchi, which I will give a try for the sake of completeness.

I ran later, over to the imperial moat and around once. Not many people at 8 pm on a Sunday night. Passed one couple going the other way twice, which is a first, I think, and means they presumably left the course on the north end and ran on the other side of the road for that part, since it's narrow and marked as one way, the one part that is. Also on the north end, it was a little unsettling having someone running behind me, matching my pace, for about the last quarter of the 5 km loop, but the north end is pretty lonely (though there are police stationed a couple places along there), so I don't blame her for preferring to have someone else in sight. I'm rotating through my injuries and have come around to having some foot pain (and I walked a lot today, thus Tokyo Midtown), so I was focusing on rolling heel to toe rather than just straight-legging it pendulum-like. My first kilometer might actually have been closest to only 7 km/h, but the average to the course was 8 km/h, and the course and coming back made it into 9 km/h territory. I've having to adjust my planned course down to remain within my budget. I'm going to try a 16 km run on Wednesday, which is a holiday, but still want to get back to Asterisque this week. Tomorrow I'll hit Isetan for a second Le Jardin Bleu cake and do some training running, which is relatively short distance, if there isn't heavy rain.