Pierre Hermé: Tarte aux Fraises

Had time after a dentist appointment (apparently I'm drinking so much green tea that they thought I was a coffee drinker), so I went up to Aigre-Douce to see whether their caramel tart is still in their line-up (which is was) and whether another great cake had reappeared, which it had not. I wanted to know about the tart because I was expected it to use it in the cake-off after next, but actually I've just learned that JPH's Violet is going off the line-up in the middle of next month, so I'll want to get in at least a first round of that and then the following weekend, the visiting shop to Isetan has a cake, so I'll want to take advantage of that in a cake-off. But it had been a while since I had run up there, so it was good for a change.

For cake, actually I just went to Isetan, because I owe Pierre Hermé for their last cake-off win (I haven't forgotten Dalloyau, but have decided that I need to go to main shop, since I'm choosing what could be my only new cake from them this year, so I want the full selection). I got the Tarte aux Fraises. This similar to a pistachio tart I've had from them recently, though no pistachio, just strawberries and cream in a pastry tart shell. This is also a combination that often doesn't work well from be, but the balance actually made this an excellent cake.

Pierre Gagnaire: Mont Blanc & Tarte aux Fraises

Ended the short (for me) week with a short, slow run (<10 km at 9 km/h) to the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo in Akasaka to get cake from Pierre Gagnaire. Company was coming, so I got two cakes, a Mont Blanc and a Tarte aux Fraises (600 yen each). Nothing unusual about the Mont Blanc, which seemed to be good quality and was excellent. The strawberry tart was also excellent, a very buttery tart, I think, and sweet.

Only ran about two-thirds the current base level this week, but just five days of running after missing a week from illness (and I'm a little off now) and really, I'm running enough that I don't really need to expand my week distance much further. My plan is to try a marathon-length run on Sunday for the first time in about a year, so resting up a little right before maybe is okay.