Just in case Pearl Chang decided to come by, Wong Wan-Lee tidied up his laundry shop. He hung a painting of a galloping horse and scrolls with Chinese sayings on the wall. He also bought some furniture and snacks perfect for relaxing and having tea. Some of the foods listed were almond cakes and “Lee Chee nuts”. For this post I wanted to look more into these three snacks. Almond cakes are a very popular tourist souvenir when visiting Macau. In addition to the obvious almond flour, mung bean flour is an ingredient. Then, beautifully intricate wooden molds have been used to shape the cookies before baking. The “Lee Chee nuts” Wong Wan-Lee is referring to is lychee fruit. This is a treat that I knew well; my mom would bring it home and reminisce about eating a ton of them in Panama. Imagine my surprise when I found out the fruit wasn’t native to the Caribbean! It was brought to the West Indies in 1775, and there weren’t that many trees. Eventually a different variety of lychee seed was introduced to Panama in the early 1900s. Although Pearl Chang might have thought this array of treats was lacking, just reading it made my mouth water.
And China Has Hands Ch. 4
http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2015/09/macau-almond-cookie.html
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html