Since she first burst onto the scene in 1987, Sinead O’Connor has never been afraid to take on controversial topics both on and off the stage. This week, the outspoken singer returns to New York to promote her latest double album, “Theology”. From her home in Dublin – the singer who once shredded an image of the pope on TV – talked with the Resident about religion, God, and the difference between the two. —Heather Corcoran

In the wine country of Willamette Valley, Ore., Harry Peterson-Nedry has noticed climate change first hand. Fifteen years ago, the highest elevation he could successfully grow grapes at was 600 feet; now warmer temperatures allow him to reach 1,000 feet. His last three out of four vintages have benefited from the hottest growing seasons on record. “I’ve definitely noticed, over the last 20 years or so, better and better ripening periods [due to] more heat,” he said.

Beets don’t draw the eye with their round brownish roots, languishing between radish and turnip. But red beets are simple to prepare and take top billing on many of the city’s best menus. — Sylvie Bigar

For the last year and a half, Chef Bill Telepan has brought greenmarket-inspired, sophisticated cuisine to the restaurant-starved Upper West Side. He mixes the best local ingredients with a solid technique he perfected at the now-defunct Judson Grill and changes his menu regularly to tickle his guests — a mix of Lincoln Center attendees and happy foodies. — Sylvie Bigar

By Kristin Elise Phillips

Biologist Kathleen Nolan steps off the makeshift pier – a patchwork of concrete slabs, wooden and plastic decking, and bare earth – and balances between rubble and the still waters of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Leaning over the bulkhead, she fills a container with chilly water. She is sampling the water as she has before, bringing her students from nearby St. Francis College.

After a career season with the New York Jets and a switch from defensive end to linebacker, Bryan Thomas predicts the Jets will return to the playoffs. No. 99 talked to the Resident about what it’s like to sack Tom Brady and how to build his ultimate dream team.—Heather Corcoran

Photographer Terry O’Neill has made a career from a level of celebrity access that most photographers can only dream of. Long before paparazzi and tabloids took over, O’Neill elegantly captured revealing and candid moments in the lives of his famous subjects.

PB&J Makes the Jump from Lunchbox to Luxury
Upper East Side restaurant David Burke & Donatella is taking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches upscale. Forget about the white bread, Skippy and Smuckers. For $23, their Hudson Valley Foie Gras PB&J Tourchon provides layers of macadamia nut butter, strawberry-vanilla jam and foie gras on a toasted brioche.–Kerri Fortune

Spa Treatments
Though some of the treatments offered in top New York spas sound like torture techniques, Manhattanites seeking the means to whiplash-inducing beauty will gladly pay top dollar for them. Here are some places you can bring your body for a tune-up. — Cotton Delo

RADCLIFFE GETS CHEEKY
Daniel Radcliffe is possessed of the preternatural smoothness sometimes found in adroit politicians, who speak of well-worn topics with a spontaneity that probably even feels natural. Six years after the release of the first Harry Potter film, he’s had some experience working a room, and he’s clearly unfazed when the conversation at an Upper East Side hotel earlier this month turns to sex. Radcliffe is currently headlining the cast of “December Boys,” an independent Aussie film that centers on the growing pains of four orphans in the 1960s, and he’s come prepared to dish on the possibilities for on-screen trysting now open to him. “I think that simply arises – if you’ll excuse that word – from the fact that I’m 18, and … around that age range is when people are exploring sexuality.” And though journalists who didn’t do their homework recently grilled him about his first on-screen kiss during the rundown to the fifth Potter movie, that moment was actually recorded for posterity in an Australian cave two years ago. In fact, Radcliffe’s alter ego in “December Boys” far outdoes the prudish Potter with a sex scene liable to send his pre-teen fans into paroxysms of ecstatic giggling. “Teresa [Palmer], having done a few of those scenes in the past, and me never having done any of them, she was sort of guiding me through it.” Induced to go further, he adds, “It was great. And it’s Teresa, I mean, you’ve seen her,” he says matter-of-factly of his pouty-lipped, golden-haired co-star. Though filming the next Potter installment will take up some of his time, Radcliffe says he’ll “hopefully” be back in New York later next year to bring his West End production of “Equus” to Broadway, and the famous nude scene will doubtless oblige him to keep talking about sex when he returns.—Cotton Delo