Dalloyau: Charme

Walked a little too fast but maybe closer to 5 km/h than 6 km/m to Dalloyau for Charme for 486 yen (so no stamp in my Carte de fidélité). It's strawberry and whipped cream on top, which is a turn off and why I never got to this previously. Then dacquoise, vanilla cream, strawberry gelatin, vanilla cream, and dacquoise. This gel is good = not gummy. This is not my favorite thing, but it does what it does well and I appreciate diversity. It would be worth learning to make for someone else, so I'm rating it excellent. Sorry, forgot to take picture of shop.

For research purposes, got a Chocolat Noir macaron (250 yen) from Le Chocolat de H one street over. I wish I could get half that much foot, but the texture is not completely different from my last effort. Need longer drying and less baking, maybe. Mixing might have been okay.

And a chocolate filled donut-type oily sugar bomb （Beignet Chocolat Noisette?) from Paul at Yotsuya Station (324 yen). Long time since I've seen the Beignet Chocolat. Not sure that the nuts are fooling anyone, but I still find it hard to resist, at least once in a while.

Saturday: Chez Cima

Today was forecast rain from late morning, building into a storm in the evening, with intense winds. Since I had a late-morning appointment, I gave up doing a big run for day; also the weather was reported to be unstable and I've going to need to check the map a lot for a run along a new history and culture course. Instead, I did an early-morning run along just the east half of the Shinjuku H&C course: Gaien Walk and Outer Moat Walk. These I did in 22'34'' and 9'20'', both relatively very fast. Total, I did 6.1 km very fast and another 3.1 km at moderate speed. So not a big run, but harder than recently (and also, like yesterday, using my racing shoes, although this time I used the running backpack).

On the moderate stretch coming back, I got an Croissant Amonde (345) from Paul, which was excellent, so I'll post a not particularly exciting picture.

Rain started on time, but light, so I walked to the home store of Chez Cima. I did not get something that I couldn't get at Isetan, but if I get back to Isetan and compare, I'll maybe get a sense of what additional things are available at the Home store. The cake is Jardin (?) and was 594 yen. It's just a chocolate cake, which a crunchy base, but it is excellent, so it makes up for Friday's cake even if it was not great.

Running and Paul [Yotsuya]

Sorry for the monotony, but I went to Paul and this time I saw where they keep the canelés, so I got one, for 259 yen. It was very good. Not at rummy as others, I think, which I'm not complaining about, just giving my impression. I was looking for "dark rum" at the grocery, but had to continue on to a different station until I saw where it was. On the way, I visited outside of Aux Bacchanales [Kioicho] and the neighboring Pierre Hermé and Patisserie Satsuki, just to confirm them, so I added them to the map. Only rum I found was the one I already have a few teaspoons of, so maybe it is as dark as it's going to get. Found rum extract, too, which I'll keep in mind. Still need to get milk, but probably Marusho is good enough, and closer. Or Natural Lawson is probably find. I always have yogurt on hand, and it would probably work, but I'd like to stay close to the canelé recipe the first time. I should get more bread flour, though.

Maybe it was because of the stops and slow speed, but I could run 5 km with no problems, in 34 min, so still extra-slow. I decided that I'll be satisfied with 10 km this week, so I'm almost there, but my target (must made up today) is 20 km.

Nihonbashi-Honjo-Fukugawa and Ohoribata H&Cs, Viron: Gateau Chocolat

Did an estimated 40.0 km today, so with 36 km yesterday, I think, it was a full weekend. Total running time for today is estimated at 4:07'58''.

First note: Paul's at Yotsuya Station (i) is not actually open at 7:30, at least this Sunday, and (ii) had a huge 20+ person line at 7:55, so I didn't stick around to get something for breakfast, but continued on to the beginning of the Hihonbashi-Honjo-Fukugawa History and Culture course (which I may need to abbreviate as a label). The 5 parts of the route are about 10.8 km, but since it forks where part 2 meets parts 3&4 and part 5, the effective length of running the whole thing in order (and doubling back over parts 3&4 rather than taking a shortcut) is 14.3 km, at least if you don't miss a turn toward the end and add another 800 m, which I did. My time was 1:32', which is fine. Usually I don't stop for food on the actual H&C course, but I did during the double-back and got a fresh cinnamon bun from a Little Mermaid that was delicious.

Once I finished this H&C route (which I liked quite a bit), since it was just 2 km away, I went to the end of the Ohoribata H&C course and ran it in reverse, which is my plan for any future runs on that course because the regular running direction is opposite the H&C course's and there are some narrow parts even where the course is not specifically marked as one-way (west half of north side). Of course, the H&C courses aren't meant to be run fast: the symbol that marks them is a snail. I often run against the regular running direction when I'm running to home with cake (as I did today), since the other side of the street along the south edge is quite unsafe due to traffic behavior, but I usually get off at the southwest corner, or at the latest in the middle of the west side at Shinjuku Dori/Street, which is before it gets narrow. My time for the reverse run on Ohoribata was 34'27'', as I was running pretty fast (this was during my third hour of running, so I was well warmed up).

From there, I went to the Viron in Marunouchi, as planned. I got the Gateau Chocolat and a Kouign Aman (or however they spelled it there) and ate the later immediately: it was quite delicious, but not cheap at 380 yen. The cake was 500 yen, and it almost seemed an unfair choice (in evaluating Viron), because it looked more like a bakery good, and they are a brasserie (sorry, this shop is a brasserie, but I meant a boulangerie---can't keep my French straight) more than a patisserie.

I went home and dropped off my cake and then did a round trip to the Shinjuku Post Office to mail a late Christmas card (they are open 24/7 and I don't know anywhere else to get exact postage for international letters). As a matter of disclosure, I got a raspberry, chocolate, white chocolate muffin (which I ate already, and it was good) and some sesame bread at Andersen in Isetan (40 km means 3 snacks and 1 cake, and the bread is for dinner and lunch(es) this week, if it lasts long enough).

Viron: Gateau Chocolat

Actually, the Gateau Chocolat was great. It was really dense and smooth, while being uniform and not fudgy. I assume that it's not baked, but I only have brownie-making experience myself. Since I've gotten up to 6 posted cakes from each of the places that I've designated "Great" on the map, my goal is to get all the "Worthy" (of interest) ones up to at least 2, but this great cake means Viron deserves an earlier next visit, since maybe they are an overlooked "Great" place (although I've had a/the few other cakes prior to starting blogging, so I'm thinking probably not).

The H&C courses so far have been fairly close, but I'm working my way outward. The farthest, which I haven't even added to the map yet (I've got three more, I think), starts at the foot of Takao Mt. but comes back toward central Tokyo rather than climbing the mountain. Even so, it would be about a 100 km round trip. I suspect that I'll hit my limit before then, since the next farthest course is longer and branching, so it might not be much different in required running distance, and even the next two would test my limits. Still several to go before then, though, and next weekend will probably be busy with other things, so it may be more than a week before the next long run. Fortunately, the days are getting longer again.

(Monday) run and tart

Monday evening there were a couple actual cool breezes, although mostly it was still hot as record heat continues in Japan. I ran down to Aoyama, around the moat loop (I guess Monday is not a big run day, because the numbers were less than 10% of what I was used to) but veered off north to go through Kudanshita Station area before coming back around.

I've got homemade tarts are home, so I bought an apricot tart from Paul (bakery cafe) at the Yotsuya Atre. It was good, a baked custard tart (or pie, I'm not sure what the difference is), but I also appreciated the almond butter tart made in a simple crust (versus the butter one of the actual recipe) that I made, so I'll keep that recipe for the filling. I'm still curious about what you co do substituting oil for butter, since olive oil is cheaper and easier to get your hands on.

Running without cake

So running, but no cake (need to save some money for running gear and a good bike), although I picked up bread (6 cereal; two slices missing from that half loaf) at Paul, which is one of my favorite bakeries (and their tarts and such are okay, but not among the greats), in this case from the one at Yotsuya Station. I followed parts of the History and Culture Walking Course (文化とレ技師の散歩道). The Shinjuku one through Yotsuya, the Shibuya one east where it meets the Shinjuku one at Akasaka (both of which have some slopes, and the latter one is partially dark but a good neighborhood: lots of cops guarding the Diet Building), and then a bit of the (imperial) moat course. I'd guess that it was in the 12 to 14 km range, but I'm too lazy to measure it with Google Map (which is limited). Next time maybe I'll try to take it farther (or skip some of the beginning).