This is a food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy try to write the reasons/situations about trying/preparing/eating food. Today is one of those posts: Cathy is writing.
The San Diego County Fair, largest (by attendance) in the State of California and fourth largest in the entire United States opened last Saturday. I wrote a short post about what to expect before the Fair opened.
This post is about our FIRST visit this year. We could not stay very long on this day to see (or eat) all the Fair has to offer and there will be a follow up. For now, lots of photos to give you a taste of what is happening.
The Midway rides are pretty much the same as always.
The Preserved Foods, cookies, breads and decorated cakes have been judged and are on display in Home and Hobby. 
Quilts, Crafts and Collections are on display with their respective prize ribbons.
The Agriculture Education barn is open for visiting. 
Many of the garden displays and entries emphasize the Theme of the Fair ("Game's On!")
Then there are the "County Fair Food" booths. 
Chicken Charlie's has three stands and the center one does offer grilled and healthy choices, like these chicken and vegetable kabobs. 
The stand to your left fries everything. 
and around the corner (to your right as you face it) is Chicken Charlie's"Pineapple Express" and offers different, but mostly 'healthy' (in comparison) items. 
Yes, the carb-free selection of bacon wrapped jalapeños ($7.55 including tax)from the "Bacon A Fair" stand(formerly the "Heart Attack Cafe", which must have been a bit too blunt of advertising). These are **fresh** jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese, then wrapped with bacon and grilled. The pepper is spicy hot- in a good way to me- in a not so good way to The Mister's tastes…
To make up for this 'healthy' Fair food, we headed across the Midway.
The "Grilled Cheese A-Fair" stand. 
The Monte Cristo ($9). Ham and Cheese, grilled (on a very hearty, fresh white bread) then dipped in batter and fried, served with strawberry jam. This was really good, fresh and 1/2 of a half sandwich was enough for me.
There are some atypical Fair/common food booths here too.
Then there is the question of…Where do people who work here every day for the 23 days of this Fair eat? Sure, they get some sort of discount at the various booths, but there is only so much sugar and oil in the world…
Located on the outside of the Racetrack, just in from the Midway is the Paddock area. 
On the North side of this semi-enclosed (beer-centric) area you'll see this: 
It was not crowded when we were here for two reasons: 1. The regular prices for beer are around $8. B) There is a "Happy Hour" at 5 p.m., when you can get a beer and a taco for $5. We didn't care about beer. 
$3.50 tacos and $4 sopes! Adobada and barbacoa!
The display. 
The cook. 
Our order. Adobada taco and a Barbacoa sope. Each meat was moist and well seasoned; excellent. Both servings were generous.
Here's a photo showing the (very fresh, crispy edged) sope. The beans, toppings…everything was extremely fresh and good.
The parking and transportation to and from the (free parking area) Horse Park this year is *much* larger and easier to navigate. We were there early and parked in horse corral #10 (the main parking lot is #1 and the bus stops and picks up at various areas). There was a very visible security presence, with Mounted Sheriffs in the regular parking lot and bicycling Sheriffs throughout the Fairgrounds. There is a lot of information about how to save money on admission, rides and food items when going to the Fair. Check out the website.
Hope to see you at the Fair!!! Remember, it's closed on Mondays (except that July 1 Monday). July 4 is the last day.