Craig, you are having an amber week I see. :-)

Thanks for all the comments everyone. As for what it is sitting on, it is a black lacquer bento box lid, which has become a stadard prop for my macro shots.

I shot it right out of the pot, so it was wet and steaming, which is why it has the white halo around the base, vague steam off the top, and water drops around it. I couldn't get a high enough shutter speed to get a crisp shot of the steam. But while Ana didn't like the hightlights, I wanted it to look hot and still wet.

congrats Craig.

I like the hightlights that go down the middle of the noodle, because they do make the noodle look wet....but the edges of the noodle have that white/white line seem to be a false highlight. Have no fear..I gave your shot almost a perfect score, despite that. :)

Simple but oh so effective...

Did you eat it? Congratulations on another Feature!