(Friday) Ginza loop to Marquise: Rurien

This run was fine. This was to the sound part of Ginza to a shop I have not visited before called (Ginza) Marquise. I verified that the leaves are in the middle of turning colors in Meiji Gingu Gaien and otherwise it was an okay run. Still a little sore in the same place, which is annoying. Did not try anything fancy, but too the short route back, which took me through demonstrators/proselytizers when I was about to swing by the Diet Building, but I'm not sure who. They wanted to give me their newspaper and I was stuck at a long light, so I let them talk to me a little. Apparently, someone predicted there would be wars all over the world (good guess, for any moment), so we should revere him or something. I'm guessing that it is just as well that mostly I did understand them. They were two elderly women, so I'm guessing not something too new age. Got my flu shot the next day, so no running for a couple days (they tell you one day of no heavy exercise, but I've had problems before, so I need to take it easy at least 48 hours). Hope to get some other cake this weekend, though.

At Marquise, I got the ルリアン ("Rurian"/"Lulian", although I don't think the actual Latin spelling was either; update: it was double Rs but I think "Rurien") which sounds the same as the J-Pop girl group the Le Lien, so couldn't get a match Googling. The shop homepage and Facebook page don't list it, and no one has posted a picture to Tabelog for that shop, so this does not seem to be a standard or something that they promote. I thought at the time that it would be the best compromise for sharing, but maybe I should have gone with the hazelnut one, which would be my choice for eating by myself. It was 650 yen, which did not surprise me for Ginza, and my memory of the card is that it has cassis mousse and orange somewhere, maybe in the dark cake. It looks good and does not taste bad, but is bland. Didn't care for the level of gelatin for the top part, but would have forgiven that if there had been more flavor. So I'm just going to mark it as of no special interest, even though it would be convenient. Eventually, I'll probably run out of other places to go (or want cake really late), but I expect it will be a while before I bother to go back. Not a huge selection to begin with.

Short run to Amitié: Rhône-Alpes

This was a run to the northeast part of Shinjuku, in the neighborhood of Kagurzaka. Took a short direct route from Yotsuya Sanchoume, which I don't recommend. I think I need to take the main road from there to the New Mejiro Road, take right and come back to it from the north next time. It will still be close compared to Ginza and Shinbashi. The more direct route that I used was too crowded relative to the sidewalk or mazy in the back streets.

The cake is the Rhône-Alpes from Amitié, which is a basic chocolate cake, layers of ganache between "biscuit" regular cake layers, but with meringue and powered sugar on top. Still pretty simple but delicious and only 450 yen. I'm calling it great. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything else I particular wanted. Noix Noix was listed on the hand-written board out front but I didn't find it inside and the website says that its currently retired. However, maybe something I don't know that I particular want is also great, so I'll definitely go back. One point for Joshi+. This week, they visited Noaki, which I've already done, so no replacement for the list to visit from there.

Local tour 9 to 10 km: 2000 (Deux Mille) Feuilles from Pierre Hermé

Bought my cake at Isetan first, from Pierre Hermé: 2000 Feuilles for 864 yen. It was a praline mille-feuillles (or apparently a double mille-feuilles). The online description is "Flaky caramelized puff pastry crust, crispy praliné with Piedmont hazelnuts, and praliné mousseline cream", which is as much ore more than you need to know except how it was.

For the run, I meant to check out the state of the Ginkgo trees along the south lane to Aoyama Street, but forgot. Even Tuesday night in light rain, there was a long line for the new Shake Shack, I think it is called. Doesn't sound like something I would need, but must be a big deal and it, their line, running, and the darkness distracted me.

Continued the tour to Takagi (still there), Louange Tokyo, which is in a dead-end alley that does not look like it should have anything besides condo entrances. Actually it is a private club as well as a cake shop and had the most high-end entry way I've seen on a patisserie, but it still looked like I could just walk in from jogging if I wanted (but not sit down on the upholstered chairs). There was a customer, so apparently other people are able to find it in a cul-de-sac (I think) off a street, off a short street, off the main street that runs in front of Roppongi Hills.

Continued on to go past Tokyo Midtown (stopping briefly to use the facilities) and swung by Neues, the German cafe I go for cake, which had the sign out saying that they were open. 

Went on to Akasaka and on down to the Niku ("Meat") no Hanamasa to get some roasted peanut pieces for making peanut butter and confirmed that I can get cheese there okay (I've been to a branch too small to have the 700 gram blocks, but I need a new source now that the one on my main street closed). Major difference from my old one: this one was playing French pop classics, whereas my old one played 80's alt/college pop. Different neighborhood.

Doubled back to confirm that I could find Del'Immo without checking the map (but I still need to check on how to spell it). 

Finally, went to Lawson 100 for snacks, crackers, and yogurt. I walked from there.

Which bring me back to the cake: praline (deux) mille-feuille: every part of it was great. It's expensive, of course, but it is a good-sized piece of cake. Probably just as well that there was not more of it, because I could have kept on eating (actually I did keep on eating, because I could not resist my freshly made peanut butter). 

39 km loop through P. Ces Jours: Yuzu

Took Setagaya Road west to Patiserie Ces Jours in the little city Komae just beyond Setagaya District, which seems a good route. It's a major road, so there is traffic but the sidewalk is sufficient, and some of it is even brick, which is usually the best. Still felt sore, so I didn't press it. I should probably not try speed running for a while.

The cake I chose was Yuzu, based on that it was marked as having won a prize somewhere. It's four layers: white chocolate, yuzu, white chocolate again, and a base which seems to be a gram cracker crust or similar embedded in a sweet caramel-like base (not a strong taste, but caramel color and sweet) that was hard but not crystalline or chewy. It was a reasonable 464 yen and excellent. The white chocolate part was more gelatinous than I like in general, but that might be necessary to keep the yuzu from leaking into it. Sorry, the picture turned out to be from the back, with the plastic still on the facing side.

Accidentally went back to Setagaya Road, so I took it to the river Nogawa and followed it up to Route 20, which is the Koshu Kaido. I've been along that river before, and it's nice to jog along. For Route 20, that would be the road I would use to go to Takao. Currently, I could certainly make it there and I assume force myself up the mountain and back down, but I'm not ready to commit to running back afterward and I don't want to pay train fare for a one-way run unless necessary (due to physical condition or conditions). I stopped at Yu Sasage and verified that they still exists in the same place and were busy. I might have gotten a shu cream or something there if I were willing to wait, but when to Boulangerie Puku-gari and got a little cream cheese with walnut sandwiched between what turned out to be round pieces of white bread with a lot of sugar on the outside. Won't be going back there, I expect.

Total, it was about 39 km, and I ran it in about 4 05', so slow but not terrible.

Run to Jiyuugaoka, Origines Cacao: Quiza

Ran to Origines Cacao in light rain. This time I got the Quiza for 545 yen, which is a chocolate cake. Maybe the description would tell me more about the construction, but there was a no-photographs sign and I can't remember anything special. The cafe space was closed (didn't go read to sign as to why), but I could eat outside under cover, although it was cold, as I was still in my summer stuff (although next week is supposed to be somewhat warm, possible almost getting up to a summer temperature).

My impression of this cake, like several other chocolate cakes, was that it was a little watery. There were chocolate cream (?) layers between cake and glazing all around (even the bottom was a solid chocolate), so I don't know what that means. I assume that it implies low butter content, but I'm not sure. Anyway, if this was not a shop I've had great cake from, I'd figure it was bad and plan to never go there again, so you and I should keep this in mind when interpreting bad (marked yellow) shops marked on the map.

Rather than try again to get great cake today somewhere else, I scaled down to get some good bread at a great bakery, in this case Andersen at Isetan. Actually, the first item is cake, Denmark Cream Cheese Cake for 216 yen, which was nice. Much more flour than my cheese cake, but then it had a nice tang that mine lacks.

The other was Trekornbrod (sp?) (three grain bread) for 356 yen for a half loaf, which is full of sesame seeds, which I hope to extend to tomorrow, or at least one more meal. This is my favorite non-sweet bread from there. Good with various spreads, toasted or not. Along with my regular breakfast and a big double salad, these baked goods helped me recover from the bad cake. I hope to have better cake luck tomorrow, when the rain is supposed to be less and dissipate in the afternoon, but otherwise I need to get over to Pierre Hermé Paris again.

Looping the moat to Canal Cafe Boutique: Chocolat Framboise

Light rain. Went to Ginza to visit the CW-X Conditioning Store in Nishi Ginza, since my broken toenails have put holes in my running socks. Also got UV gloves, just because I should have gotten them before. Hope I'm still running next year so that I really need them. Forgot my watch, but was not planning to run hard anyway, as I need to rest my back. It was about a 13 km run. Higher chance/frequency of rain this weekend, so don't know whether I'll get to run much. I'd like to go to Jiyuugaoka and visit Origines Cacao for great cake, but might end up doing the Shinjuku History and Culture course, which would put me next to Del'Imo, although it's not that far to Shinbashi/Ginza (of course, I could go east to west, but that wouldn't leave me in a good position for cake). My next planned bigger run would take me to Patisserie Ces Jours, but I'd want to do that on Sunday, because I can start earlier and have time to run back.

Back to today: circled the moat to go up to the Canal Cafe Boutique at Iidabashi, just because it looked like it should have good cake. Actually, only one that I was interested in and it's a pretty standard type, the Chocolat Framboise for 518 yen. It's chocolate mousse with a little raspberry, but there was some white cream inside too, which probably kept the chocolate mousse in check. Also, nuts in the bottom, which is unusual, but good. Not a bad cake of its type but not that memorable. I don't need to go back and don't expect to, but I could get the same thing or try something else.

Laps and Sadaharu Aoki Chocolat Pralin

Tried to do 7'/lap for 10 laps and failed from the start. I'm sore and just didn't have the will to push myself that hard for that long. I did make 10 laps within 7'15''/lap, but by less than 10 s total, so not that impressive. I knew I wasn't pushing as hard because I wasn't puffing as hard or burning as hard, but my back was not happy so I decided that I was going fast enough. I need to add regular back stretches. I've done 8 laps at 7'/lap previously (as part of 9 laps), so I need 9 laps at that pace to show improvement. I'll try that next or move over to seeing what how I can do with 2 laps around Akasaka Palace.

Cake was Chocolat Pralin from Sadakaru Aoki by way of Isetan for 780 yen. Pricy, but didn't buy cake yesterday (I made cake, and had some today and decided that the evaporated milk recipe is not worse than the cream recipe, and cheaper, mainly because I use less evaporated milk, though it's harder to find). According to the online description, the cake has some orange biscuit, which I didn't notice, but no mention of chocolate dacquoise. It definitely has chocolate cream and cream praline. It has feuillantine (?), which I assume is almond based, but seems accurate from the texture. Anyway, it all goes together and is chocolaty and praline without being overpowered by that. I thought that this was one that I had been indifferent to when I did the sampler set at Tokyo Midtown, but no disappointment today.