Gochiso

Gorgeous meal is called "Gochiso御馳走" in Japanese.

Gochiso literally means "running about" and it can be divided into three words; Go, Chi and So(u).

"go御" means a honorific prefix.

"Chi馳" means "running about by horse."

"So(u)走" means "to run."

Now we can buy various food-materials at stores so easily, but in old days, to prepare meal for the guests means a lot.   They needed to run about to get food materials....fish in the ocean, vegetables in the fields, and sometimes they needed to go to mountain for the fruits of the land.

It is their efforts of running about that could make the food so special and gorgeous.   Therefore, the word " running about" get to mean "gorgeous food."

Now Japanese say "Gochiso-sama" after the meal.   I think this is a wonderful word of appreciation.  It thanks not only the food but also for all the efforts of preparation of "running about."

By the way, I did run about....in order to make these Sushi Platters yesterday.

Last week, I was lucky to have donations of avocado, but this week, no more.  I went both Big Save and Sueoka Store at Koloa but avocado were not ready to eat.   They were hard like stones.

So I needed to go to Lihue just to get avocado.   

Until yesterday, I never thought of my efforts to buy food material, but I now realize I spent pretty much time for buying the materials both here and on Oahu.   So I hope it's Ok to call my Sushi platter as "Gochiso."

Next time, I will make gorgeous Sushi.......on December 31st.   This shall be for the dinner after the New Year's Eve Service which starts at 5:30 p.m. at Koloa Jodo Mission.

Everybody is welcome!  But I do appreciate your RSVP for dinner by calling 1(808)742-6735 or email to kosenishikawa@hotmail.com