Thanks for all the great info, Chuckles the Clone!

It's awesome! State of the art equipment, super clean, AND milk tea too. (You know, with tapioca balls and all...) Really nice people running it. We love it!

I suspect the rice was just doing what rice does, if given the time. We've had this problem at our deli. We used to add the rice to the pot when we made vegetable rice soup, but... like you said, it becomes mush so quickly. Sucks all the moisture out of the broth! So now we add the rice to each bowl just before serving. If you do that, you shouldn't have this problem!

I'm not sure if I saw this one in here: Bring water (or stock) to a boil first, before adding soup ingredients, grains, beans, potatoes, or what-have-you. When we used to start with cold water/stock, we'd to try to watch the pot, waiting for it to get up to temp, but then when backs were turned, it would boil over. If the water's boiling hot, it gets back up to temperature fast; then you can turn it to simmer to finish. And then it'll need only an occasional stir, instead of constant watching.

You might try cooking the turkey breast-side-down, turning it over half-way through to get the breast side golden. This will give you a moist, juicy turkey (without the breast meat getting dried out). Another tip: If you put the stuffing in a separate casserole dish to heat up in the oven for the last hour or so (as opposed to stuffing it in the bird), the turkey won't have to cook quite as long to get to temperature (again, probably resulting in a moister turkey). Plus, it sure makes it easier at serving time, that you don't have to dig it out of the bird!
As for sweet potatoes, a favorite for me is to bake them instead of boiling. You don't throw all that extra flavor away in the cooking water that way. You can even do this the day before, removing the peel after they cool. Mash them, and on serving day, add a few ingredients (including 1 egg, for extra moistness and good texture)- top with a streusel-like topping (pecans included is deluxe).
However you do it, it'll be great. Turkeys are so tasty, even just thrown in the oven and left on their own for a few hours. Who can complain?!