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| By Matt Rourke, AP |
So a restaurant manager friend Back East shipped us Thomas' English muffins, one or two cases at a time. Some were kept in the freezer. Others became part of a thriving black market in authentic English muffins for IBMers. Not the San Jose or Boulder transplants - they wouldn't have known a real English muffin from a bagel. But the New Yorkers, the New Jerseyites, the New Englanders - they understood the need for nooks and crannies and were willing to go to great lengths to obtain the real deal.
After a year or so and many requests to the local grocery chains, Thomas' English muffins began appearing in Tucson. No longer did I need to take orders and meet with other aficionados in the parking lot to make deliveries. Eventually they even showed up on the shelves of Price Club (now Costco).
Thirty years later, seeking to curb ever rising grocery costs, I purchased a package of store brand "English muffins" for less than half the price of than the real thing. Hmm....
They smelled right coming out of the package.
They had - nooks and crannies! Really? A quick google search found a 2010 USA Today article about how a US Appeals Court ruled to safeguard Thomas' English muffins trademark "nooks and crannies" secret. Well, it must have leaked anyway, because these muffins had lots of nooks and crannies to fill with butter and jam.
The aroma and delicately browned peaks as they came from the toaster brought that familiar "ummm - breakfast" feeling, and anticipation mounted as the butter melted nicely into the nooks and crannies.
First bite. Nice. Yummy. But not Thomas'. A little heavier, doughier, not quite that combination of delicate yet satisfying denseness as the original. They'll do for the day to day morning jump start.
But when I want to really enjoy that delight that only something truly scrumptious can bring, I'll be reaching for that box of Thomas' English muffins - the ones with the "Original Nooks and Crannies".
