Bought a fresh young turkey at Nations for $20 sometime in the afternoon. Put it on around 5, stuffed with wild rice, hand-peeled chestnuts and two giant 3" diameter leeks, and a bit of squash juice from the kabocha we baked. Rubbed the turkey with some leftover blackberry reduction, as we had just made two 1-liter jars full of reduced blackberries. Poured some Chinese cooking wine on it and sealed the turkey in foil. The turkey was done at midnight. It was the simplest turkey we ever made, and probably the best.

Kabochas were on the reduced rack at Nations. Spent $1 each on two old halves that were very faded and rusty brown on the outside. The flesh was very orange. When baked it made a lot of juice. It turned out to be very sweet, excellent squash so the curing really improved the flavour. Made a great pumpkin pie and topped with custard the next day.