New activity: MAKING MUFFINS

Laura has always loved muffins but Barbara, like the Elaine character in Seinfeld, is fonder of the muffin top (except for her own personal one!). So we decided to try our hands at baking a cranberry brie muffin. Sounds delicious, right? Well, it was awful! They looked good but tasted so bland that we wound up tossing the whole batch. We did give ourselves a consolation prize of an ice cream pop, so the afternoon wasn’t a total loss.

LEARNING CENTER

A MUFFIN MENACE

Do you know the muffin man? Well, you’re probably familiar with the nursery rhyme that asks this very question. But did you know that back in the 16th century, an urban legend was born that swears the muffin man was actually a serial killer who lured children away by enticing them with his baked goods? 

The famous nursery rhyme was created to warn the public of this nasty man. He was Frederic Thomas Lynwood, also known as the Drury Lane Dicer. Since he lived in London, the muffins mentioned were more like what we know as English muffins, rather than the sweet treats we Americans adore.

While this may be an interesting bit of trivia, there is no record of a muffin man killer. The actual origins of the muffin man was most likely the Wikipedia parody site Uncyclopedia, posted in 2007 and then cleaned up by removing the serial killer aspects.

So, rest assured you can eat your muffins safely – as long as they’re not the above Cranberry Brie ones!