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Brian McNally has been involved with three New York City restaurants which despite merely good food and decor have become extremely popular. His background, thoughts on his success. Restaurants include Canal Bar, Odeon, Indochine.

Describes the `Zagat Restaurant Survey,' guides to dining in eight urban areas, comprised of compilations of reviews by volunteer and non-professional diners. INSET: Even the children are cognoscenti..

Although much research has been done on the effectiveness of child care, few studies take the comments and opinions of children themselves into account. According to children in child care programs, the best arrangements keep kids involved in activities either with each other or with their baby sitters. Surprisingly, most kids are highly understanding of the demands placed on their parents and do not resent being in child care programs, even if they don't like the arrangements.

As researchers discover their nutritional value and a wider variety become available, beans are mounting a minor assault on the nation's culinary culture. With a range of flavors, textures, and colors, beans can be adapted into many different meals to give a wholesome and intriguing culinary polish to a dish.

A time-consuming but delectable Italian rice dish called risotto is becoming tremendously popular in New York's best Italian restaurants. Made with rice, butter, stock, and a range of add-ins, the dish is notoriously difficult to produce properly, but more and more restaurants are making it to capitalize on its popularity. Risotto has long been a staple food in Italy.

More and more Americans are watching TV shows on cooking and reading cookbooks for enjoyment without actually bothering to do extensive cooking themselves. With take-out and prepared foods gaining in popularity, the consumption of homemade items has declined. Julia Childs; Jeff Smith; Madeleine Kamman.

Examines the changing scene along lower East Broadway, SoHo, where 20 years ago the industrial district attracted artists into lofts costing $10,000, and that now it is asking $100 a square foot in rent for retail shops, and a half-million dollars for lofts. Galleries and artists moving eastward; Two new malls a blight.

Reports that the 53rd Street Association, in an effort to do their part in tackling the issue of homelessness, has hired two social workers to try to help the homeless people in the area from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue and 51st Street to 55th Street. Workers' efforts.

Discusses the fact that Americans are spending more and more of their time on the telephone. Sociological and psychological implications.

Describes decrease in alcohol drinking by Americans since 1980.

Since January, when countries in Europe decided to stop buying American beef because it is grown with hormones, many Americans are looking for sources to buy meat that is not grown with hormones. Meat advertised as `natural' is only minimally processed; There is no way to tell for sure if the animal has been fed hormones.

Comments on the new alternatives to the traditional hamburger. Some are good--some are unappealing. Turkey burgers; Vegetable burgers; Tuna burgers; Who eats them; Recipes.

Says that futurists (people who believe they have some ability to forecast events of the next day, the next year or even the next decade) are finding a growing demand for their services. And while sober researchers in think tanks may believe they have nothing in common with psychics and astrologers, those who use intuition to forecast the future are also finding a growing interest in their services. Computer software for creating charts; `900' numbers for telephone consultations.

Tells how the waiters, cooks and dishwashers at some of New York City's restaurants eat family style meals on restaurant time. Presents a sampling of meals at Le Cirque, Petrossian's, Chanterelle, Quilted Giraffe and Union Square Cafe. Recipes.

Says that most people eat the same limited assortment of foods over and over again, although nutritionists say the best way to insure good health is to eat a varied diet. Breakfast is the most predictable meal. Reasons why people are timid abouteating different foods.

Discusses broccoli. A new study shows that it may stave off cancer, but it is hard to sneak it into foods because it can't be dried or turned into flour. Still, consumption of broccoli has shot up in the last decade.

Says that today people want to entertain frugally. Caterers say the move toward simplicity has grown out of necessity during the recession, and now simplicity is becoming something people prefer. Recipes for the cost-wary.

Tells how a heart attack changed the way Charles M. Harper, chairman of Conagra Inc., the nation's second largest food company, redesigned his company's products. After he realized that healthful food could taste good, he pushed Conagra to develop a line of low-fat, low-salt, low-calorie products under the name Healthy Choice. And Healthy Choice is changing the face of the supermarket.

Profiles the Sindoni family of New York. The five restaurants it owns; The hard work to which the family attributes its success; The family tree.

Comments on the fact that, despite an expressed desire to cook, the cooking skills of Americans have declined precipitously. Furthermore, Americans don't even know that they don't know how to cook. Reasons why many women can't cook.

Presents an obituary of Simone Beck, a passionate cook, author and teacher who collaborated with Julia Child on the influential cookbook `Mastering the Art of French Cooking.' She died at age 87 on December 20 at her home in Placassier, a small village in southern France. She had been having heart problems for several months and had stopped eating.

Presents a guide to how-to videotapes that make good gifts. Lists videos on cooking, children, fitness and self-help. The How To Video Source store in Manhattan.

Comments on the fact that Thanksgiving is a perfect day for procrastinators, and tells why. How to make a tasty and traditional Thanksgiving dinner quickly; Recipes for cranberry sauce and quick stuffing. (Related article on page C4: To be on time, try some old-fashioned procrastination, by B. Wade.)

Discusses pork, sales of which have grown by 20 percent, from $25 billion to $30 billion, since the pork industry started a costly and intensive public relations campaign five years ago, emphasizing pork's leanness for consumers who are increasingly concerned about health. Complaint that the pork industry is misleading shoppers; Image problems; Trichina worm rarely found in pork.

Discusses food repulsion and the reasons for it. `Unmentionable Cuisine' by Calvin W. Schwabe, a cookbook dedicated to the strange, all of whose recipes are for dishes actually eaten somewhere in the world. The difficulty of changing people's tastes.

Comments on the dangers of living in New York City, which somehow seem greater now that the boom years of the 1980s have passed. Parents' doubts about bringing up their children there. Other reasons why some leave the city.

Reports that in the last decade, the death rate from accidents has dropped 21 percent as more cautious conduct has been institutionalized in law and custom. 20 percent decline in the rate of motor-vehicle deaths; Death rate from work-related accidents dropped 29 percent. More.

Discusses the children's magazine business. In the last two years, dozens of new ones have started as publishers try to appeal to a growing, economically powerful, and loyal audience. Range of magazines; Responses from children.

Discusses the fact that younger and younger consumers are gaining control over growing amounts of money and acquiring their own objects of desire. How children and teen-agers spend their money.

Discusses the growing number of places where gay travelers can go to relax without engaging in the pretenses that are so often required in their day-to-day lives. Resorts, guest house, tour operators and travel agents are increasingly finding that it pays to cater to gay customers.

Describes the Ayur-Veda Health Center in Lancaster, Mass., a serene and elegant retreat where the emphasis is on integrating the mind and the body. It is a new kind of nonspa, devoted to spiritual and physical health. Other retreats.

Describes the trend virtual reality and how it works. Seeing the world from many vantage points; Excitement about virtual reality outpacing its development; A concept with serious purposes.

Discusses how being told you have the AIDS virus forces you to investigate what you really want your life to be. Reaction; Struggles; Priorities; The political arena.

Reports on the growth of counseling services which are sponsored by local funeral homes and hospitals and involve local clergy. Training; Description of program; Coping with suicide, murder and AIDS; Loss of family support raises need for service.

Tells what schoolchildren have done to help save the dolphins. Mentions two new television documentaries to be seen soon: `Dolphins, Whales and Us' and `Where Have All the Dolphins Gone?'

Reports on gardening as a career, a way of leaving the fast track for a hobby which may at one time have offered solace. Increase in adult enrollment at agricultural schools; Plants as psychotherapy; Increase in sales of bedding plants; Feelings of relaxation, not stress, from being with the plants.

Describes the Child Safety Home in Mount Laurel, N.J., built by the Orleans Construction Corporation of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. It is designed and decorated to be safe for children. Development planned; Cost of houses; Choice of child-safety package as an option.

Discusses bedtime for children, which today is later because of the increasing number of single-parent families and dual-income families. Child development experts say this is not necessarily wrong as long as they make up for it and get enough sleep.

Reports on the need in Japan for creative people, from fashion designers to architects. Designer Sam Lopata; Japan's openness and money.

Reports on the lean days for the furniture industry. The reasons behind the fall in sales; Strategies to increase sales.

Describes the new way to work: at home. This is made possible by affordable technology and a boom in information-based businesses. Each year, more people are doing some kind of work at home, instead of their jobs, as part of their jobs, or in addition to their jobs. Examples.

Discusses the American obsession--losing weight. 26 percent drop in the number of dieters in the last three years; Oprah Winfrey a symbol of diet failure; Liquid-protein regimens; Weight Watchers International.

Tells how Nancy Taub and her husband Richard Cohen bought a country house after only a month and a half of looking, and how Nancy bought all the furnishings during lunch hours, after work and on weekends and had everything ready for guests on the Fourth of July.

Debunks the notion that people are busier today than formerly. According to a study by a University of Maryland professor of psychology, the opposite is true. He says that since 1965, men have gained seven hours of free time in a week, and women, six.

Discusses the upcoming marriage of Bobby Flay and Debra Ponzek, two well-known chefs in the New York food world (Flay is chef at Mesa Grill, Ponzek is chef at Montrachet). Andrew Wilkinson, chef of the Rainbow Room, is cooking the wedding dinner,and he is understandably nervous.