My friend Susan Hess, who lives now in Georgetown, made this marvelous mixture a few years ago and served it with wine as an appetizer before dinner. Another friend and I had just attended a Christmas concert in which Susan had sung, and despite her preoccupation with the concert, Susan gave us a nice supper. One of the secrets to being able to do this with aplomb was that this cheese ball is a terrific thing to whip up in advance and pull out whenever people show up.

It is rich, so a little dab’ll do you, served rolled in chopped parsley or in chopped walnuts or pecans, with crackers or toast to spread it on. This recipe makes enough for a large gathering, or you can divide it up into smaller balls, wrap each in plastic wrap to roll later in the coating of choice, or to press into a ramekin.

The recipe calls for a jar of Old English Cheese spread. If you can’t find that, grate up about 4 ounces of a nice sharp cheddar to beat into the rest of the ingredients. The recipe also calls for beer. You don’t need very much, so my advice is to open a beer, and drink it while mixing the cheeses so you can just add a couple splashes from the bottle as needed. You could probably even leave out the beer, but you’ll need something like cream to thin the cheese mixture a little.

It keeps nicely for two or three weeks. If you make some now you can use it on New Year’s Eve too.

Cheese Ball

Yields about 3 1/2 cups.

1 pound cream cheese

1/4 to 1/3 pound blue cheese

1 jar Old English Cheese spread or 4 ounces finely grated cheddar

2-3 tablespoons beer

Let ingredients come to room temperature and beat them all together very well. Refrigerate. Serve as needed, rolled in chopped nuts or parsley, or served plain with crackers.