Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Monsieur Arnaud over Yu Sasage's Perfum

My Sunday plan for a cake-off worked, other than falling asleep too late and waking up too early. I hope to better tonight. First was a run to Paris S'éveille, by way of Takeshita, so I could get some pictures I forget yesterday. Note sure either of these places qualifies, as candy itself does not, and I'm not sure whether the cakes on a stick are something you make, which would also not qualify. Fortunately, the current version of the neighborhood running map doesn't depend on them either way.

At Paris S'éveille, I got the required Monsieur Arnaud and carefully verified that they have no new cakes. Because this places has the best pastries I know, I also got their Croissant d'Almonde, and, no surprise, it was great, which few are. My requirement, I discovered, was that it be baked to hardness on the outside: a soggy croissant is not a croissant, or much of a pastry (thus my problem with recent Pain aux Raisins). See the nice feet?

I took the train back and got Yu Sasage's Perfum from Isetan. The next best place I've confirmed for great pastries is Sadaharu Aoki, which only has things rarely, so I could pass up getting a fresh new one: Cannelé au Chocolat. Unfortunately, though I should have predicted, chocolate and cannelé doesn't work for me. The taste is good, but I'm not thrilled by the texture, so I'll be kind and say this was good and see what they produce next month (not that they are that frequent or have the big a back catalog).

Since I had a pastry after the first run and then after lunch, I went out running again before getting to the cakes. I'm completely redoing my running maps to add all the coffee shops and convenience stores I ignored before. Even if they don't have good cakes, they have some sort of packaged snack or energy cookie that is at least good, and they sort of define the pain points of the neighborhood, so just in terms of navigation, I should include them. What a mess though. Along this, I tried a Machi Café scone from Lawson, rather than my usual during running snack. It was okay, but I think I'll stick to my rule of ignoring packed breads/pastries, at least from convenience stores, as well as cake from Caffe Veloce (my other running snack was their cheesecake, with similar results, and only slightly better tasting than the Lawson 100 cheese tart).

Finally, cake-off. This is a fourth-round cake-off from the winners bracket. Paris S'éveille's Monsieur Arnaud is heavy decadence and Yu Sasage's Perfum is light elegance. I'm into the heavy, though it was a tough decision nevertheless. So becomes the second cake to reach four straight wins, and I'm caught up with the winners bracket at least through July.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Praliné over Paris S'éveille's Le Suprême

Sunday, I fit in some running and cake. In the morning to early afternoon, I ran down to Jiyuugaoka and got Le Suprême from Paris S'éveille's for a third-round cake for the runner-up bracket (the one and one shops after two rounds). Stopped off on the way back to get the special-time Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Praliné, which was my main focus, though I still have another month before it's scheduled to be replaced. While at Paris S'éveille's, I got a snack to last me until lunch, their Croissant Orange, as a fresh viennoiserie. It was great, as I remembered. Some time I need to do a match up with the great croissant from Sadaharu Aoki, since these may be the only two great croissants I know of.

Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Praliné easily won, as it is decadent combination of chocolate coating, praliné, and meringue. I'm having my doubts about needing to sample Le Suprême, though I'll get a fourth round at least. The flavor combination of blueberry and chocolate is definitely nice and not something I have other exams of, but it's just a mousse cake with some glazing and chocolate that isn't that well integrated into the cake (though I guess it protects it from sticking to the box, and it was somewhat successful, though it doesn't stick to cake well either). Still, I enjoyed both cakes, so no disappointment.

In the evening, I went down and did the Jinguumae 5&6 loop clockwise. Note that there is illumination up on Omotesandou-douri Ave., so they close the pedestrian footbridges for safety (otherwise, people would crowd up there, and they aren't that wide or seem to be that rugged) and station cops at the crosswalks to keep people from standing too long in the street taking pictures, which I didn't try to do.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Mont-Blanc over L'Abricotier's Le Piemont

Last day of the month and a Saturday. Can't ride a bicycle due to right arm and shouldn't type much, but tried even longer walks to see whether I'm ready to start running next month. My foot seems good enough.

Two walks: 8+ km to L'Abricotier to get Le Piemont (oddly, their signature cake wasn't out yet, even after 11 pm. They were just getting to putting out the Sicile. Came back by JR Chuuou line, so still had some walking to do at both ends. After lunch, walked to Très Calme by not the best route and got their Mont-Blanc, which is also their top cake with me and generally. Came back by a cheap but not close way, this time Toei lines, I think.

This was a battle of underdogs, both in terms of shops that are on the way down on my list and also cakes that lost the first round. Le Piemont is chocolate and nut cream, was well as chocolate and nuts, so good stuff. Still like it a lot, but not sure I need to keep in on the great list; will have to review in the third round. The Mont-Blanc was in a similar situation, though in the end I felt that it had a distinctive taste that I wanted to keep, so it remains safe, as well as the winner.

Yesterday, I failed: F. Cassel still did not have a cream puff for me and I've run out of pastries at Dalloyau (under my restricted definition, which calls certain things sweet breads and leaves them for a different evalutation, basically the completely soft stuff).

Thursday, I was successful at getting a pastry from Libertable for the first time. This was Feuilletée au Chocolat, where the first part just means a layered-type pastry, so pretty generic as a name. It sort of combines the best of croissant and pain au chocolat, so I completely approve and am calling it a great pasty. They are now my top priority for pastries. I might have tried to stop by there when I failed yesterday, but it was already going to be my longest walk of the month, so I didn't want the detour coming back from Ginza.

Paris S'éveille: Croissant Orange

Last Tuesday, I went looking for a pastry at Paris S'éveille, but I checked my cake spreadsheet rather than this blog, so I didn't know that I had gotten a Croissant Orange before. I was going there not just for another pastry but for another item from Paris S'éveille, who I intend to replace Pierre Hermé with as one of the two quite superb shops and also won the previous cake-off but they have no new cakes now. Fortunately, I've decided this time that the Croissant Orange is great and that new ratings now that I'm taking pastries more seriously override old rating (previously I had written that it was excellent). The amount of orange paste inside is actually fairly small but gives the correct balance, with the powdered sugar outside, so it's more like an orange version of a pain au chocolat than a croissant d'almonde, which often have so much almond paste that the croissant has a completely different shape, though there are different ways to almondize a croissant.

Cake-off: Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit over Jean-Paul Hévin's Victoria

First, let me mention that I ran to Christa Friday evening and got a Pain au Chocolat. I stopped and ate it nearby rather than make it travel a long time, so the photo is not very flattering due to the lighting, but it was great: lots of crispy layers with good chocolate, completely different from the previous pastry that I had claiming that name. Although this was my first pastry from them, I was expecting something pretty good, just because I had an excellent bread sample and they seen pretty serious about their breads while also making fancy cakes. There had a few other pastries there, so I should go back there so. The rest of the run was going to Roppongi Link and Loop. I had to move the connection to agree with the open crosswalk, but otherwise the route seems good. Other steps are to visit in the daytime for photographs and confirmation that things are where they are supposed to be and actually running over the course in a full continuous neighborhood run. It's not the most attractive place, so I might slip in on larger runs (or need to anyway, to get the far without cheating), but I shouldn't judge to quickly. On the way back I stopped at Tokyo Mid-town and remembered all the things I wanted from there. Probably I'll go at least once next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today, I walked first to Jean-Paul Hévin around 11:30 and got get to the cake counter within a few minutes to purchase the Victoria, which is available through Valentine's Day. Except for the top biscuit, it seems to be the same cake as their two-person special seasonal cake. The website has been updated to reflect this and says that it will be replaced by Violet, which, reviewing old posts, I've never reviewed, so I have that to look forward to.

Next I went to Bien-être's by the long way to stop and take a few pictures of Tougou Shrine. Didn't realize that I hadn't done the Seichou no Ie complex to the northwest, or I would have picked that up to. Takeshita Street to Harajuku Stn. was packed, so no running around here. I've reverted my course over there to a single loop, but it's not practical on weekends except really early in the morning. I went to Bien-être for their baked (flour-less?) chocolate cake, Chocolat Cuit. It's simple but works, which is pretty much the shop's overall strength. On the way back, I confirmed that I could connect them up to my neighborhood map, via big detour north to get the crosswalk over the continuation north of Inokashira-dori avenue (which takes a east/left at the Yoyogi Public Park Police Box intersection). I also confirmed that you can cross through the north end of Meiji Shrine, when it's open (daylight), though you're not supposed to run, of course, as it's not a public park.

Did the cake-off, another chocolate match-up that finishes off the first round for Jan. 2018 great cakes. Actually, though it was excellent, wasn't remembering what I thought was great about Victoria this time around, which isn't too surprising given the number of similar cakes that I've liked from JPH. Still, the Chocolat Cuit was great, so I don't have any problem giving them the win. Maybe I'll test it against Viron's similar cake in the second round.

Éclat des Jours: Baked Cheesecake

As planned, I did a cycling visit to Éclat des Jours Monday, but they did not have the expected cake (it seemed overly summery, so I'm surprised that it lasted through November). Instead, I got the Baked Cheesecake. I had low expectations, but it was great, an experience I've had with other cakes of theirs. It was fruity, with some citrus taste but obviously some other fruit adding flavor, like cassis or blueberry. I'll have to go back to find out, as I didn't visually examine it that closely enough or read the card closely (I didn't expect to want to know much beyond baked cheesecake). It makes me think of the more decadent American style rather than the types I usually get Fred Cassel or Pierre Hermé, so I assume that means lots more sugar. It's somehow richer and more airy at the same time. I'll have to update this when I go back to get this for a cake-off, though that probably won't be until next year.

Tuesday, I did actual running for the first time since last Thursday (though I did hiking in the hills Saturday and less vigorously Sunday. I went to P. Shima to get the first pastry for this week. They close at 7 pm, so I had to rush: 11 km/h there and 10 km/h back, though it's only about 2 km each way. I followed this up by filling up the hour with running over the west Yotsuya neighborhood course, which is essentially the first one, or at least one endpoint of the current string of 7 that I've tentatively learned. I didn't do all of it, just enough to see whether I remembered it. I'll avoid reviewing the map before I go again and finish from where I left off, but I was okay on main outer loop, though I think I'm going to drop a small bit that swings through an alley that just for the sake of minimizing overlap in the course, because it's not lit well enough at night and I'm sure nobody wants me back there anyway. I might reform other parts, based on my more recent philosopher of course making, though I'll wait until I complete it. I know there's a big loop at the other end of the course that could be avoided if I was willing to double back or overlap more.

The pastry was a Pain au Chocolat, which was great, even though it is hard to say that there was anything special about it except that it was exactly what I wanted. I'll work my way up to one-on-one comparisons, but I'm not ready to do pastry-offs yet.

Limevert: Pruneau

For my long run of the week, I went over to Limevert again, taking a longer path of going south to the middle of Aoyama Cemetary before heading west to Roppongi Ave and then over to my usual route down to Old Oyamate Ave. (though I took the southern branch for some reason) and then down to follow Meguro River northwest and then the green path to Umegaoka, and from there along the train line.

I ate in again (obviously) and got chocolate again, this time Pruneau (580 yen) according to the French, but the Japanese name seems to be phonetic for "Brick" (though wrote down "Buritta": hard to write those cards). This is a couple solid chocolate sticks on top, then cocoa powder, chocolate mousse, chocolate cream, a little unlisted chocolate sponge (probably for cohesion), chocolate ganache, and finally a feuillantine base for crunch. I'm not completely confident, but I'm going to say it was great and look forward to testing that in the future.

From there, I went back a different route so I could stop by at Fraoula because I had overlooked that theirs was the first cake I rated here as great, so I should have started with them (I was greedy back then and had two great cakes on that day). Unfortunately, though they were happy to see me again, it seems to be something that they make on an irregular schedule. They offered to give me a call when they made it next, but my schedule is a little more complicated than that and I don't mind stopping in occasionally. I bought there Croissant d'Almonde, which was great. It is the soft kind, maybe with almond syrup, but the powered sugar definitely was part of the appeal for me. More than for cakes, this is a quite excellent place for the few pastry they make, so I need to get there more often just for that, though I'm not sure whether I've missed anything at this point.

Ryoura: Mille-feuille Chocolat

Under my updated patisserie hierarchy, Ryoura was the other potentially quite excellent shop I needed more samples from, besides Limevert, which I visited yesterday. Ryoura does not have a café space, so I also needed to stop somewhere for a snack in order avoid gobbling down the cake under poor outdoor conditions.

Usually I would go around Shibuya Station area (for good reasons of crowds, [decade-long] construction projects, and car-oriented roads), but I wanted to confirm that the Limevert counter at Hikarie, across from the station, does not have fresh cake, which I did, and noted that Pierre Hermé and Sadakaru Aoki both did now, so I added them to the map.

Due to the current state of construction projects, the southeast pedestrian bridge is less direct and narrower than ever, so I regretted not using some other strategy to cross. I skipped the southwest bridge and went around, although that bridge is fairly direct, so it might have been better just to use it. Even with all that, total time to get from my start to P. Bigarreaux was 1 hour to the second, according to my chronometer, and my speed was 11 km/h for 11 km and faster than the first part of yesterday's run. There, I got the Croissant aux Almondes au Chocolate (400 yen); it was great, with both almond paste and chocolate inside, chocolate drizzled outside, and baked to be hard on the outside (some almond croissant are soft and flat compared to a regular croissant and some avoid this but have an almost deep-fried outside, so this was the latter type). It was great pasty, but what a calorie bomb, with both sugar and fat. Half would have probably been enough, but for a 23 km run, it was perfect fuel (plus I ate my normal breakfast about 1.5 hours before starting).

From there, I went the short distance to Ryoura, but I made the mistake of trying to take back streets, so not so direct. Coming back, I had to swing by Bigarreaux again because I had forgotten my other purpose there, to check whether they had either of the great cakes I had had there previously (unfortunately, not; they are big on having a rotating lineup); from there I stayed on the main road when it headed toward the north end of the Shibuya Station, where perhaps the most famous Japanese pedestrian scramble is. Too crowded, of course, and the same pretty much all the way past Omotesando. My speed was 10 km/h for 12 km, but still slightly faster than the second half of yesterday's run.

The cake was Mille-feuille Chocolat (500 yen), which seemed like a good idea in my running-addled selection state, since I like both the flavor and the type, but really chocolate and custard are both much better than chocolate custard, or at least in this realization. I'll say it was good, since the mille-feuille was good and it wasn't so bad as chocolate custard goes.

So, end of another week, where am I in terms of running and patisseries? Running, I broke 100 km for the week for the first time since restarting my training, though I was running pretty slow: I never even got up to 12 km/h, so I did only about 85 km of 12 km/h-eq. running, which is only a 5% increase from two weeks ago. My current plan for next week would have me running less than 90 km raw to reach about the same amount as 12 km/h-eq, though I'm going to have to revise that plan now that Ryoura has dropped out as next Sunday's destination.

On the Patisserie side, supreme Jean-Paul Hévin doesn't have anything new unless I'm willing to pay double+ to get unneeded chocolat chaud, which I've decided is unwarranted. Quite superb Dalloyau definitely needs a visit soon, even without it's recent win in the last cake-off. Ryoura drops out of the quite excellent group, so I moved up Bigarreaux and Toshi Yoroizuka, which I have deeper histories with, but one will eventually have to go unless Limevert fails next week. The Toshi Toshizuka will be one source for my next cake-off, though I'm not sure when I'll get to that: I probably should do another cake-less run to prepare for it, since 6 km Friday is really just half a normal run; I need to call ahead to get them to hold me a piece and then get to Isetan for the competition, so I need planning, but I don't have that much control over my day-to-day overtime work hours. Limevert is still potentially a quite excellent shop, but under-visited, so I need to get back there next weekend for a fifth cake, this time by a longer more comfortable route, say by swinging south through Aoyama Cemetery, coming back along Meguro River, and taking the green path that picks up where the above-ground river begins to get up to Umegaoka and follow the train line again. Among the excellent shops, I need a second visit to Heritage, but that requires a no-overtime day on a Monday, Tuesday, or Friday, which is going to be tough this week, and I also want a second cheesecake from Morozoff, for a training run day. Since I don't need to get back to Ryoura this weekend, I can use one weekend run for a new shop (or at least one I haven't blogged yet). If I don't manage to get to some completely new shop during the week (such as Pierre Gagnaire, which is easy but I haven't actually gotten an recommendations on it), I'll maybe finally go out to Toni Coni, which has been on my radar for a while. Otherwise, maybe Yukinoshita, just to get it off the list of places to blog about. Either would be shorter than going back to Ryoura, so I'll have room maybe to make some side visits or take a more comfortable/safe/interesting route over the most direct route.

Sunamachi-Kasai-Mizue History and Culture course: L'Abricotier

Took today off and got up early (before dawn) to run the Sunamachi-Kasai-Mizue History and Culture course. Still having knee trouble, or rather I think the tendon or something under and on the outside of the knee, so I have to be careful turning with the left leg, but no problem running fast straight or running up hills and stairs, which is weird. Not the normal knee problem. If necessary, I'll rest days or weeks until it is better, but in any case, I should not consider myself ready for longer distances until I can run in the 40 to 50 km range without getting this kind of problem.

First leg of the course is the Sunamachi Saltspray Walk from Minami Suanamchi Station. Doesn't seem to be any reason for this leg (although it was sort of on my way). I mean, there is sort of a park at the beginning, but I've been there before and it's just some place for people to pass through going north from the station (toward the residential section). The walk ends where the course branches, north of Nishi ("West") Kasai Station.

The south branch goes down past the station, by a big baseball stadium, and from there goes through a park course down to Kasirinkaikoen Station, which is named for the big park south of it, Kasai Seaside Park. The course weaves along a cycling road, park, bridges over main roads, and paths along artificial streams with lots of little bridges, so it's hard to be quick and it's well separated from the street. The final park, which I didn't get deeply into, is big and was recommended to me once by a birder as the best place to see birds in Tokyo. On the other side of a channel that connects up to Edo River is Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea. This walk is the Kasai Wave Walk.

I traced the Kasai Wave Walk back to the branch point and headed northeast long the Sound of Old River Walk, which has a long stretch along a narrow stone path weaving along an artificial stream toward the end. The course changes name when you get to the same channel as I mentioned below (only, this is a different branch than the one going to Edo River). The final part is the Ichinoe Nanushi Estate Walk and ends at Mizue Station. It's okay, but again, I'm not that interested in this flat, below sea level (?) part of Tokyo, which is very car centered.

I came back mostly along Route 50. At Nihonbashi, I went in Mitsukoshi to visit the Dalloyau and got a Pain ("bread") d'Orange 324 yen. It's a danish made with their croissant dough and cream, orange, and sugar. Like their croissant, it was great.

Then I continued home running until the Lawson 100. I was very slow all day, but not terribly. Going was 13.0 km, then 20.15 km on the H&C course, and 17.7 km running back, which is about 51 km, perhaps farther than I should have run, although on the way back, I had figured out how to run so that my left leg didn't cause problems. It's not a good long-term solution, but later when I had to walk a little after going out again for cake (which I'll get to next), I didn't feel any problems. I don't expect that to last, but I hope I can recover without having to completely stop for a few weeks again, by which time it will be the rainy season and then full summer. Still two more about 50 km H&C course runs that I can do, which just leaves two 100 km course runs that I won't be surprised if I'm never able to do as preferred (without a train or cycle assist).

For cake, I cycled to L'Abricotier, where I ate in. I had to buy tea, but it wasn't that expensive (only 350 yen more), and I got a little pot with about three cups worth, not like French Pound House. I actually needed the fluids (although I had eaten and drunk water before coming out again after running) and the winds were very strong, so even if I had been running rather than cycling (which doesn't agree with cake), it was better to eat in. I plan to do that on my next visit too.

The cake was Le Piemont for 450 yen. It's a mousse cake with milk chocolate outside, along with three kinds of nuts (the almond on top is hidden in the picture) and some biscuits that I also approve off. Inside is nut cream and chocolate cream, with chopped nuts within the nut cream, which is a good choice. The cake bottom has hazelnut in it. I'm choosing the cakes that appeal to me, so having two great cakes (as this was) is not enough evidence to be confident that this is a great shop, but it certainly seems to be at least another excellent one and I hope to go back next weekend, whether cycling or running (if I'm up for a long run, I want to do the Shibamata H&C course and visit La Rose des Japanais, which is my top priority after L'Abricotier).

Visit to Jiyugaoka and P. la Glycine

Rain cleared up earlier than it might have and I was able to get out by noon in sunny late-spring/early-summer weather (with heavy wind). I took my usual route, which Google says is 11.3 km and it took me 1:08'27'', which is 6.06 min/km, moderate speed, which is as fast as I do long runs, although in this case I didn't try to maintain the pace.

At Jiyugaoka, I went to Paris S'éveille to get a croissant for 250 yen, which was fine although not special, and a Kouign Amann, which was great again, despite not being fresh from the oven this time. I ate these just in the little strip park that runs in front of Origines Cacao, which was perhaps a mistake, because I'm finding mosquito bites. Apparently, I need mosquito repellent in February now, at least if there are a couple warm days in a row (although I've seen them around my door even when it was just above average warm in winter).

Next, I ran to P. La Glycine, which was not exactly where I thought it was (and Google thinks it is). Until now, I had been visiting the French deli next door. Now that I know where to look, it's hard to miss; I'll try again going there at night. The run took 43'32'' and covered 6.4 km, which is 6.8 min/km. I was trying for faster than that, but there are other people out walking and hills to climb.

Coming home, I got turned around, so I just tried to climb (to get up to Old Yamanote Road) and then take my usual way back, but I ended up going through Shibuya Station (literally), before catching up with Aoyama Road. Google's estimate of my best guess of what route I used is 6.2 km, and my estimate of how long it took is 41' (I caught myself running with the chronometer stopped), which means 6.6 min/km, still very slow, but suspiciously faster with the cake than without it.

So my weekly running is, in 3 days, 47 km comprising 22.6 km moderate, 11.4 km slow, and 12.6 km very slow, compared to last week in 4 days 34 km comprising 8 km moderate and 26 km very slow. That's faster than maybe I should be ramping up the moderate-speed running and I would have liked to have gotten in more than three days running and another few kilometers of very slow. I've heard, don't increase more than 10% per week, but that can't apply to getting back into running after an injury (10% more of zero is still zero), so instead I'm thinking that my maximum was about 100 km a week before and 50 km for one day. Since I figure subtract 1% per day inactive and it's been 4 weeks since my injury, maybe 70-75 km is enough for next week and I can try to increase 10% from there after that. Similarly, next week I'll try for 30-35 km for next Saturday, if that is my maximum run, and raise that to 35-40 km the next week, which should both be enough for the next two History and Culture courses that I want to do, even with cake detours.

Finally, the cake for today: I got Mistral (which means "masterly", but is the French name of a particular type of strong cold northwesterly wind) for 600 yen. This is pistachio mousse, in which I think there is cherry liquor (having trouble with the translation, but it's definitely cherries, and they've definitely been pickled or fomented), but also some chocolate crunch. I choose this despite the cherries because it was the one marked "recommended" (by the "Chef"). It's not a big shop, so there was not a huge choice, but enough for me to go back. Since I've been badmouthing them because I couldn't look as far as the next building to find them, I may be feeling generous, but I liked this, so I'll say it is excellent and mark the shop as "worthy" of further special attention.

Since I got this shop from Sweet Sonobe, I'll need to start exploring that blog further for recommendations.

22 km day off loop run.

The rain mostly stopped and I got in a long run with only a vague plan. I went by Avancons, but decided that my expectations were not that high, so why bother and continued on to Aigre-Douce. There I got the Caramel Chocolate Brownie. After I ordered it, I noticed that it had coffee (and why? Does the pistachio cake have tobacco mixed in, you know, for the flavor?), but didn't back out. After all, maybe the coffee makes it better. Well, it did not kill it, but it did not really make it good, so I'll just leave it as a cake for someone else (caramel and chocolate sounds good, but only if the caramel is fairly sweet, and no coffee, please). I don't remember how much it was, but probably around 500 yen plus tax. They have another chocolate, which I'll try another time. They were really busy for a Monday afternoon, though. Lots of people making big orders, so my cake was already melting by the time they got around to closing the box.

Next, I went to Fraoula, because I could, although I did not do much better. I got their chocolate, the Tomoe, for 453 yen. On the one hand, it was nice to have chocolate without the coffee. It has rum as well, apparently, although I could not taste it. I'm not sure what to call this type of cake. It's not baked, but it's more granular than a mousse but isn't fudge dense. It's kind of a standard texture, so there's probably a good name for it. Ultimately, it did not work for me, although whatever the rum was doing worked, as there was not a problem with too strong a chocolate taste, just its sort of a lot of one flavor that is not enough. It's pretty and I like the macrons, but I don't need it. It would be good to split with someone and have with tea or wine (although there is no space for a cafe there).

I looked around for a third cake, although I had not intended to visit anywhere else. I swung by Takagi and passed from not knowing what to get, went to Toshi Yoroizuka, but they did not have the cake that I had in mind, and so I ended up going to Henri le Roux, which like Toshi Y. is in Tokyo Midtown, but is actually a caramelier, if that is the right word for a master maker of caramels, the only one that I know. They have some little cakes too, which are also available at their Isetan counter, but the draw for the Midtown store is the Kouign Amann. I got the chocolate and C.B.S. (salt butter caramel). These are definitely great, especially the C.B.S. It's sort of croissant-like as far as being flaky and buttery, but of course there is caramel inside, so it's also chewy, not dry. Next time I'll maybe get the C.B.S. again and try the pineapple. These are 324 yen per, so like little cakes.

Rest Sunday: Seijo Alpes and Andersen

I also got bread bread, but this sweet, Chocobar (チョコバー), was 360 for the box of three, so I could not resist. Energy- and flavor-wise, it might count as three cakes, even if it is less than one cake in terms of price. Very delicious, maybe great pastry. Andersen at Isetan is maybe my favorite bakery. 

The iPod is crippled, so I dug out a ten-year old digital camera which I hope to use from now on. The bread photo was fine, but I had to take a dozen pictures and fiddle with various settings (with unfamiliar icons or Japanese) before I could get an in-focus picture of cake (I don't know what the auto-focus thought I wanted a picture of before I got it right).

After loading up on pastry energy from the bakery, I went out scouting my normal weekday running route to see where the up and down slopes are within the Yotsu neighbor west of Akasaka Palace, which is usually the first place I go to from the National Stadium. I don't have time to jog longer, so I would like to introduce more slopes (but I don't want to do laps). There was running, because time is limited, and even running with heavy groceries. Amazingly, I managed to not break anything, despite having two bottles.

After the groceryrunning (shower, laundry, and eating a vegetable), I ate the cake that I had bought at Isetan. I know I've seen Seijo Alpes before, presumably at Isetan, but I don't seem to have any records. Maybe I hated everything I tried and/or it was before I started collecting the cards. This is Brenda (?: ブレンダ), which was 460 yen. It's caramel, which is always difficult, as there is variation in the taste of caramel. This was the same caramel taste as in standard Japanese pudding, which I hate. Maybe it's not sweet enough, and that's why it has a smoky taste that makes me think of coffee (which I don't drink and actually has a definitely much worse taste that lingers on and on). Anyway, this failed for me but I won't hold that against them. I had the chocobar earlier, so I don't need to go out and get anything else. Still, I'm not sure whether I'll try to hit them at Isetan again or save them for a Saturday run, when I'm ready buy cakes from multiple shops anyway, so I can be prepared with great cake from somewhere else. Speaking of which, I need to prepare my next Saturday map (and pizza dough for tonight). Trying a place that was convenient to my normal haunts this weekend did not work out so well, but I want to try Quatre anyway. Then I've still got to get to Bigarreaux and maybe Jun Ujita, which I stopped by once and got something simple and confirmed that they are okay. After that, there are some remote ones that are coming into my running range that I might visit. I figure, as long as I start in Tokyo, it counts it's suitable for this blog (and these are places that have visited Isetan).