July 24, 1991

GOOD news for the troops. Their gripes have been heard. Next time there's a war, there will be steak (sort of). As well as pizza, burritos, hot dogs, fried chicken, potato chips, waffles and pork chow mein. "We learned from the war that they don't like all these casseroles," said Daniel Berkowitz, a senior food technologist at the Army's Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center, which dreams up the various dishes the men and women of the armed services eat around the world.

The Senate voted today to impose conditions on trade relations with China, but sponsors of the legislation failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a likely Presidential veto. As a result, the day's action was a victory for the Bush Administration. The 55-to-44 vote for trade restrictions was a setback for the Senate Democratic leadership. The legislation was sponsored by Senator George J. Mitchell, Democrat of Maine, the Senate majority leader.

COSMETIC surgeons have developed a new technique for making older faces look younger: filling wrinkles with the patient's own fat. "It's the epitome of recycling," said Dr. George Brennan, a plastic surgeon who offers the service at his offices in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, Calif.

When Sara Lee bought the Coach Leatherware Company in 1985, there were 6 company-owned stores selling mostly traditional sturdy handbags. The company has opened 48 more stores and stocked them with added luxuries like silk scarves and leather luggage. Now, with some gentle prodding from its parent, which knows a thing or two about building brand names, Coach is moving to conquer the market for expensive accessories and extend the Coach appeal to younger consumers. At the same time, it has opened its first stores intended specifically to woo the affections of men.

The controversy about opening the nation's securities exchanges a half hour earlier, at 9 A.M., intensified yesterday as the board of governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers voted to oppose plans by other exchanges to open at that time. The plans, put forward earlier this month by the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, are part of a larger effort to begin 24-hour trading in the nation's securities markets by the end of the decade.