Puppies and Glam Chowder make me happy

Look who we adopted into our busy family from Eleventh Hour Rescue! 

Introducing the amazing five month old (we think) lab/terrier mix brothers: Owen and Ted!

Ted's name was going to be "Yaz" after Carl Yastrzemski, Ed's favorite baseball player, but the kids vetoed it, discouraging us from giving our puppy the same name as birth control. I had no idea. So, we opted to name him after Ed's other favorite baseball player, Ted Williams. Turns out that he looks more like a Ted than a Yaz anyway! His brother was already named Owen and it fit him so well that we decided to keep it. 

Owen and Ted are the sweetest, cuddliest, cutest puppies I've ever had. I get up extra early in the morning to take care of them, I miss them during the day while I'm at work and I look forward to seeing their wagging tails that help me find my smile again when I get home.

Even though I wanted to spend my evening cuddling with the puppies, I managed to squeeze in some time to indulge in an amazing soup from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite For Reduction cookbook for dinner tonight.

"Manhattan Glam Chowder" is Isa's vegan nod to Manhattan Clam Chowder and it does not disappoint. Nori provides a subtle ocean flavor while the shiitake mushrooms do a wonderful job replacing the clams and I loved how the yukon potatoes just melted in my mouth. When you're craving a fresh tasting, hearty soup, do yourself a favor and give this recipe a try. It makes just enough to feed four people and the kids enjoyed eating a few pieces of thickly sliced crusty bread with it as well.

My only complaint is that I didn't make enough chowder to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I'll probably double the recipe next time I make this and then freeze single servings of it so that I can have a quick bowl any time I want.

One more puppy photo to close out the post because they are so darn cute. This was from the night we fell in love with and rescued the puppies:

My kids are spreading the word: it's cool to rescue!