CHECK OUT : NEWS AND TIPS EATING OUT OF HABIT.

Most of us can't push ourselves away from the table. Fifty-four percent of U.S. adults clean their plates and 50 percent nosh at parties even if they are full. And 38 percent of Americans admit they eat when they aren't even hungry or when they're bored or simply when they see food, says a survey done for Prevention magazine and ``NBC Today - Weekend Edition.''

More ice cream flavors

Starbucks Ice Cream just introduced three new flavors, each with a suggested retail of $4.29 per quart container. Biscotti Bliss is a decadent combination of creamy coffee ice cream with chocolate fudge swirls and crisp biscotti pieces that have been dipped in coffee-laced chocolate. Vanilla Mochachip has a vanilla ice cream base with coffee-chocolate chunks sprinkled throughout. Low Fat Mocha Mambo has a mocha ice cream base with a chocolate fudge swirl. Look for them in supermarkets and drugstores. And just in case you've missed it, the top seller in the Starbucks Ice Cream line is Java Chip. It's to die for - if you love coffee ice cream with big pieces of chocolate.

Contest Alert

The California Milk Advisory Board is looking for creative recipes with Real California Cheese (RCC) from California cooks. The grand-prize winner will receive two weeks of professional training at a California culinary school of his/her choice. Five runners-up will each receive a catered cheese and wine party for 25 people.

To enter, submit your favorite recipe featuring real cheese as a main ingredient. Proof-of-purchase in the form of an RCC seal or ``It's the Cheese'' logo from a cheese package must be attached to each entry. Send to Real California Cheese Recipe Contest, P.O. Box 4680, Modesto, Calif. 95352. Entries must be received by June 8.

Cookbook pick

Todd Wilbur cracks the code to some of America's favorite restaurant meals in his recently released book, ``Top Secret Restaurant Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones From America's Favorite Restaurant Chains'' (Plume; $12.95).

In this volume of 110 recipes, Wilbur, who created clones for convenience food in two previous cookbooks, duplicates recipes for chain favorites such as Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onion, Pizza Hut Original Stuffed Crust Pizza, IHOP Banana Nut Pancakes, T.G.I. Friday Potato Skins, Planet Hollywood's Chicken Crunch, the Hard Rock Cafe's Famous Baby Rock Watermelon Ribs and Dive's Brick Oven Mushroom and Turkey Cheese Sub.

``The Top Secret Recipes version may not be prepared the exact same way as the original,'' writes Wilbur, ``but as long as the finished product is identical in taste, how we get to that point is inconsequential. Be aware that my intention here is not to steal the original recipe from the creators, only to duplicate the finished product as closely as possible, with ingredients you can find in any supermarket.

The foil lowdown 

If you've often wondered why aluminum foil has a shiny side and a dull side, and whether there is a difference when cooking with it, here's the explanation given by representatives at Reynolds Metal Co. ``That's how it comes off the roller after being processed.'' The company doesn't recommend one side over the other for cooking purposes.

However, there may be a very slight variance. The dull side absorbs slightly more heat than the shiny side, because shiny metals reflect heat and light more than dull or dark materials. The difference would be slight in aluminum foil, but if you want the optimum browning, have the dull side facing out. When wrapping food for storage, have the shiny side facing out.

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Photo: (1--Color) No caption (Starbucks Ice Cream)

(2--Color) No caption (Cover of cookbook ``Top Secret Restaurant Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones From America's Favorite Restaurant Chains''