11 km to Demel: Sachertorte

Today, I was doing 1 min/1 min intervals, but not sure how many I did before I just ran, due to crowded sidewalk and then being in a hurry to arrive before closing: less than 15, but probably more than 10. I went down the usual route south through Aoyama Cemetery to go to Jouvaud, but they were sold out of fresh cake at 19:10. I was prepared to go to Takagi as a backup, but I've visited them enough for now and I had time, so I circled back to Isetan. They also were pretty low on cake at the counters that I was checking, so I settled for Demel and got, what else, the Sachertorte, which was 540 yen. This is a traditional Sachtorte: "A fine chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam under the chocolate glaze, with a triangular Demel seal." The frosting/jam is really sweet, so you could get tired of this, but it's been a few years for me from here, so no problem. It was very good.

Akasaka Palace and Del'Immo: Cassis Chocolat

Went to the Akasaka Palace loop to set a benchmark time for 1 lap. Getting there and back and taking another lap around to get cake at Del'Immo, it totaled 9 or 10 km of running, which is not a lot, but that 1 lap I ran pretty hard, so I'm plenty tired. Managed just under 16'51'' for 3.3 km. Getting cold with just a shirt and super light summer jacket though, once I slow down for the rest of the run, anyway, so I need to add a layer now, I think (or wear one of my cheap heavy jackets).

At Del'Immo, I got the Cassis Chocolat, which is what it sounds like. Just seeing all those fancy cakes made me happy. So different from the new shops that I visited last weekend. The cake was 540 yen, has cassis mousse, chocolate mousse, and chocolate biscuit. Reading online, it says it is perfect with wine (or whisky), which is what I had decided when eating it, so I guess it's common sense. The chocolate is not that strong compared to the cassis, which is okay. They give percentages of chocolate, and this one is only 40%, although that is higher than my last cake from there. This cake was very good, so I'll keep them as a shop of special interest. I'm behind on that category compared to the great shops in terms of numbers of cakes blogged (I figure 1:2 proportion would be good).

Since I was satisfied with this one, I can try a new (or at least not posted about) shop next rather than needing to do a great shop. If the rain holds out, I'll go down to Hiroo, but otherwise I'll visit Isetan and see if I can resist the great shops to get something from somewhere different.

(Jiyugaoka) Mont-Blanc

Started out running okay, but after a couple kilometers, my left knee started to hurt, so I should have rested. Seemed to be able to walk okay, so kept going, which I regretted halfway, but things were okay.

At (Tokyo Jiyugaoka) Mont-Blanc, I did not get the Mont-Blanc, I got the Exotic, which is relative, for 500 yen. This is apparently almond biscuit and white chocolate mousse with passion fruit, mango, and apricot in three layers, I think. Actually, the passion fruit completely dominated. It was okay. The biscuit was good quality and the flavor was fine, if limited. It's a big cake for a reasonable price, but it's nothing I need again. So they seem to be good, but not really what I'm looking for. Probably if I ever go back, I should go ahead and get a Mont-Blanc.

50.5 km Nakano-Shakujii History and Culture route

Today's goal was to navigate the Nakano-Shakujii History and Culture route from Shinjuku Central Park to Shakujii Park. First, going to Shinjuku Central Park, I found a third marker on the west side for the Shinjuku H&C route telling you where to take the second turn. This is redundant with the first marker, which does not show this marker on its map, but it does confirm which side of the street you are expected to run on, so I'll continue to look for markers. This part took 18'14''40.

Going north from where a starting marker would be, if there was one (it's possible that it's covered by a homeless living site, but I don't think so), at least there is a big map plaque confirming both the Nanano-Shakujii and Shinjuku H&C routes at the northeast corner of the park. The route is good, although not well marked everywhere. A couple marker map plaques were gone (the round ones don't seem to be as durable), and I marked on the map a couple places where the on-the-ground route did not match the posted 2010 route. Saw a couple cheap plastic markers that I hadn't noticed before where there are route changes, but couldn't read the second, so I'll be on the look out for those now. I hope to learn the route and make more use of it, when I'm up for visiting the few good shops up that way. According to the plot I made with Google, this H&C course is 15.4 km, which today, even with one double-back, took 1:30'09''70, which seems low, and yet I feel I should be able to improve it, or maybe I'll just have to correct it.

From there I went to La Primeur, in Nerima, which on the map I describe as having a "[l]arge variety very simple (like, elementary school Home Ec.), cheap, not particularly high-quality cakes , tarts, and other creations somewhere in between. Not my thing at all. If I still lived in this area, I might go back and try one of the fruit tarts. Note, need to order a beverage for the cafe, even when the cafe is only half full at noon on a Saturday." What I actually got was the Strawberry Millefeuille for a reasonable 410 yen. The millefeuille part sort of surrounds it, which is one strategy for making milefeuille easy to eat, although parts were still a little soggy and at its best was far from the good stuff that I've had. Mostly, this not-a-cake and not-a-tart is a way to organize whipped cream and strawberries, much like most strawberry short cake, and so would appeal to the same crowd. The custard underneath on a small biscuit base doesn't really help. It wasn't bad eating it: except for the millefeuille, the ingredient quality was fine, and even the millefeuille was only poor by comparison with other things calling themselves millefeuille, but I didn't respect it and was not thrilled with having it inside me afterward. It did mean that I did not have to buy any bread on the way (also, I was carrying about 350 kcal of homemade brownie, and ate about the same ammout of shortbread before starting out), so it served a purpose. I ran about another 18 minutes back to the park to eat it.

Expecting not the be satisfied with La Primeur, I next headed to Hidemi, although by this point it was late so they were sold out by the time I got there at 3 pm. The route is on the map. Haven't really done much running on the Shin ("new") Mejiro Road, so it felt a little weird, since I've been on bits of it and it goes through places I know or where I've run the opposite way on the opposite side of the river or highway. I got useful information from the experience, although I was kind of winging it without confidence when I left it. Took about 2:30' from the park to Hidemi.

I treated Hidemi's being sold out as a way to motivate me to keep going. It took 59'31'' running to go to Isetan and then home with cake from Sadaharu Aoki: Cassissier for the 891 yen (only, supposedly) at Shinjuku Isetan. I had to go to the 10th anniversary page to find a short Japanese description: this is cassis and chocolate. In the past, they've supposedly had Cassis Chocolat, which had cassis in white chocolate and looked the same, except for having almonds on the bottom, but no fruit. I think this also has the usual feuillantine praliné. This was great, not surprisingly.

Total running time for the day's run was about 5:27. Since I broke my one-day distance record and also already visited a great shop, I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I need to look at routes for heading down to Jiyugaoka and check how I'm feeling in the morning.

1 min intervals to Louange Tokyo: Cube-Caramel

Ran down to try a new shop. Did about 11 intervals of 1 min + 1 min fast to get there. Took the regular route down to Aoyama Road and then through Aoyama Cemetery to the Shibuya History and Culture route. The last part maybe isn't that great late at night, as far as traffic and sidewalk, but still okay.

At Louange Tokyo, I had a choice of 6 cakes and didn't choose well: I chose the Cube-Caramel for 846 yen (they're all the same shape and cost). I should only order caramel from shops that I've already judged based on other cakes, because the chance that I'll like it is low. This one had caramel mousse, caramel brulée, praline ganache, biscuit Joconde (which I think is almond added to meringue to make cake, versus using baking soda/power to get some sponge), and various nuts. Some parts were good (the nuts), but overall it's not a flavor that I like. It was a well-made cake, seemed like, and not small, but it would have to be pretty good for me to be satisfied at the price. Still, even only designating it as not bad but not worth special attention, it's close and open late, so I'll probably get over there for a second cake eventually (hopefully before the go out of business, not that I have reason to know whether that is likely).

No running or cake tomorrow, so it will be homemade. I want to make shortbread, which I've never done, just because it sounds good, so I should finally get myself an actual cookie sheet or big flat cake pan, although I can use the pans that fit the open if I stay away from their edges, since they are more fit for roasting something (I think I used them for pizza before I got my pizza stone, but otherwise I'm not sure what I use them).

Saturday, I hope to get over to La Primeur, but since it is Saturday and I missed my chance last week, I'd like to also visit Hidemi for takeout cake, which will make it a long run. For Sunday, I'm thinking about going up to Aigre-Douce.

Amitié: Fraise Fraiche

Rainy evening, but didn't go far, just Amitié around Kagurazaka. Ate in, and let the rain thin out. Not many choices today, though. I asked for a recommendation, so I choose the Fraise Fraîche, which is strawberry short cake. I'm not that into strawberry short cake, but it was good and I was okay with it as a change. At only 390 yen, it's a good deal, but still, I need cake I like better to keep me running. I'm tempted to just call this a normal shop, but I'll keep it on the "of interest" list. I still haven't found a course I want to take to get there, though.

Pierre Hermé and Gaien laps: Infiniment Vanille

Had to work late, so changed my plan and went to Isetan for cake. Was going to visit some place I haven't blogged yet there, but took a look at Pierre Hermé and did not resist the Infiniment Vanille.

For running, my goal was just 2 laps within 6'50'' at Meiji Gingu Gaien. After reaching that, I continued, since my time remained under 7', until the middle of the fifth lap, when I needed to tie my shoes, despite what I thought was a good effort to avoid that problem.

Times were 6'20''48, 6'24''29, 6'29''05, and 6'36''17, so I've got 3 laps under 6'30'', 4 laps averaging under 6'30'', and 4 laps under 6'40'' as current bests. Total distance today was about 9 km, but I had some speed, so it seemed enough. Next time I'll double-tie those shoelaces.

The cake, Infiniment Vanille, was 756 yen. It has almond biscuit, vanilla cream, and vanilla gel. I'm not thrilled by gelatin and the biscuit was not that exciting. Still, it was good cake, but I know I like the Tarte Infiniment Vanille better, so it did not seem great. I should have gotten the Millefeuille Infiniment Vanille, which ends Thursday. Can't have everything. Instead, I want to make a second trip to Amitié (closed today) and then maybe my first cake from Louange Tokyo.