Viennese Cream Puffswith Rose Water

I ate this cream puff in Bokhara at Ismoil’s Restaurant, after a long, hot drive from Samarkand. Walking into the restaurant garden was like stepping into paradise: a beautiful, shady place full of fruit trees, a vegetable and spice patch, a patio, and an arbor of vines, under which we sat. At the entrance of the garden was a big marble sink with hand towels for washing. When the owners, two brothers, found that I could talk to them in Tajiki, they were delighted. They treated my guide and