Ice Fishing!! (and Homemade Irish Cream!)

Phew! It has been over a year since I last posted something.  A lot of things have happened in my life, good things, but first things first... ICE FISHING!

Have you ever wanted to go hang out on a frozen river/lake/pond and try to catch fish? No?! Not even just once in your life?! Well, I went ice fishing this past Saturday up near Augusta, Maine with some friends both new (like I met them that night) and old.  Ice fishing up in Maine is apparently a 'thing', there are businesses that you can book a 'hut' with and they set you up with fire, wood, hooks, string, worms, etc. etc.  We had 4 huts reserved.  Our huts were reserved from 9pm to 3am (way past my bedtime) AND, by the way, the entire east coast was in the middle of some seriously arctic temperatures.

To my knowledge, there is only one way to endure those conditions and that is by drinking coffee laced with booze.  Now are you a little more interested?

I scanned the internet for some recipes and I ended up meshing a bunch of recipes to come up with my own.  We drank this mixed with hot coffee I brought in a thermos.  We didn't catch any fish worth mentioning, but we had a lot of fun.  I hope you get a chance to make this and enjoy it either on or off the ice!

Homemade Irish Cream

• 2 cans coconut milk
• 2 cans light coconut milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups strong coffee
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 bottle Irish Whiskey (750 mL)

1. Put the coconut milk in a large pot and whisk in the sugar and cocoa powder.  When I made this I used 1/2 cup of cocoa but it was a little too chocolately for me, so the next time I make it I would cut it back to a 1/4 cup. However, use however much or little you would like.
2. Over medium heat, bring this mixture to a low boil.  Boil for approximately 20 minutes, whisking frequently, until the mixture thickens.  There is really no going wrong here, you can  make this as thick or as thin as you want.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the coffee, salt and vanilla until fully incorporated.  Let this mixture cool for a little while, until its cool enough to handle/drink.  It can still be warm, that's fine.  (I cooled mine on the back porch in approximately 20 minutes, but like I said, we've been having arctic temperatures around here.)
4. Now add the booze!  I added an entire bottle of whiskey, but if you're worried about it being too strong I would start with 2 cups of whiskey and add more to taste.

Be sure to refrigerate the mixture once it cools.  If you'd like to store it for longer than a week or so, put it in the freezer.  The coconut milk will firm up in the freezer but will return to liquid when you thaw it.

This makes plenty for a bunch of people if you're mixing it with coffee.  I've been drinking what was leftover with ice, and that's also delicious!