Almond Milk Pudding with Kumquat Sauce

One of my favorite childhood desserts was almond float, a Chinese confection that sets the nut-flavored milk jelly into a mixture of canned fruits—lychees, mandarin oranges, peaches, and maraschino cherries. I remember having it once at my uncle’s house in Shanghai. I don’t know if this is a testament to my age or to the rate of the city’s development, but his house had a dirt floor and no running water. The stove was outside. I recall the swelteringly hot day, and, perched on a table that