i'd add to this list: cherry tomatoes (never too late, if you can find plants or get them started indoors), okra (mmmmmmm... okra.... spiny AND mucilaginous, as manature pointed out to me recently), yardlong beans, and sweet potatoes. check out southern exposure for all these, except sweet potatoes, which you can start from store-bought ones (just google: "starting sweet potato slips"). i have yardlong beans in my yard (just one plant right now) -- it's a beautiful plant, with great flowers and it sneers at heat and humidity. you can eat it young as a green bean, or let it go and harvest the peas (beans) to eat fresh. they are really tasty either way (but i am a bean lover).

Bowl emptier could be a raccoon. For the first time in daylight, I saw one about noon yesterday. Large, walking along the perimeter wooden fence until the neighbor's yard. I figured he was going for a drink in her many ground bird baths... but she was busy scrubbing them out. About 3 pm he appeared at one of my table birdbath dishes, standing with his hind legs up on the tree trunk behind, and his paws on the table... I think he was familiar with this dish! (And then he spent a long time nearby digging in the leaves for uneaten birdseed thrown earlier.) I had suspected raccoons were pursuing water in my yard at night, from the overturned containers. Like you said, DG, we are in the midst of a SCORCHER! Thankfully the alligators don't need to hunt for water!

One of the best flowers for hot weather is the zinnia. Zinnias thrive in hot, sunny conditions and come in a wide range of colors, making them a popular choice for gardens and landscaping projects. They are also relatively easy to care for and can be grown from seeds or transplants. Other flowers that do well in hot weather include marigolds, sunflowers, and portulaca.

Cold chinese noodles (either spicy kind of like Dan Dan Mien,or with a peanut/lime sauce - both with cold vegetables: cucumber, snow peas, carrot, bean sprouts etc. Cole slaw is a frequent side dish in summer, too. Fruit and cottage cheese - I just picked the last of the cherries, and the blueberries are coming on strong! Strawberries have been on sale too. This week I've been on a salad tear - found my current favorite salad mixes at Kroger marked down to a dollar, so bought 5 of them (all different blends) and have been eating them, supplemented with the last of my lettuce and my arugula, with a different protein every day.