Lemon Coffee Cake

I took the brioche dough recipe, and a basic lemon curd recipe, rolled out the dough into a rectangle and spread the lemon curd on. It was pretty squishy and soft, but I rolled it up, sealed it, and managed to shape it into a circle on a parchment-lined pan. I snipped some chevrons in the dough all the way around, let it rise a while, then baked it for about 40 minutes at 350F. I got it to an internal temperature of 195 F and called it good. While it was cooling, I stirred up about a cup of powdered sugar, a little whole milk, a half teaspoon of powdered citric acid, a little lemon zest and a splash of vanilla extract. I drizzled that on while it was still warm. In-your-face tangy lemon, and RICH.

Oh, and yeah: our dinner with mom went well yesterday. We sent her home with plenty of leftovers, and still have 5 steaks left for salads and sammiches. Plus plenty of lemony risotto made with a Spy Valley Savignon Blanc, which is like grapefruit juice or lemonade in the form of wine. Very citrusy. We'd like to get some more of those New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs to drink on those humid, warm summer evenings. We've got rhubarb custard pie left too.

Except why can't rhubarb custard pie actually be custardy? I'd like to find a recipe that isn't just rhubarb pieces with eggs broken into it. Might have to abandon published recipes and make my own. Hmmm, what a concept... And I think I'm now nearly convinced to rip out the inferior variety of rhubarb in the back yard which stays green and is already bolting. I need to get out there today and whack off the monster flower spikes that are even now shooting skyward. I want to replace that with a nice red variety that turns pies and desserts a nice pink. I have a slight problem with the particular shade of booger green that results when baking with the other kind. It is true we eat with our eyes first.