Sherry Spiced Pears

<img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> I have been told I don't look like the typical "natural" cook, I'm a biker and a gear head, so apparently stereotypically I shouldn't be interested in cooking and baking, but I love it. My dream is to open my own cafe, but I guess I need to stop moving around so much first and plant some real roots ;) I started “really” cooking when I was about seven years old, and not just scrambled eggs and toast, the first "proper" diner I made was a roast chicken with sweet potatoes, roast carrots and onions, stuffing and a chocolate cake for desert (strange how you remember some things isn’t it?). My Grandmother was my biggest influence as a child I think, even though my mum is a heck of a cook too. I traveled around Europe for 8 years while based in the Czech Republic. I love food from almost every country, I dabble in Mongolian, Chinese, Czech, traditional English, Mexican, American, Indian, and I make up my own. I love to cook, and bake, and love the reaction I get from those who taste my cooking. I work from home which gives me a little more room for preparing food. I have a four year old, who is showing the signs of wanting to cook too, and who has a very broadened palate. I’m not the type of cook that measures everything, I do it all by eye, which makes it hard to reproduce things sometimes, so I’m trying to get in to the habit of writing it down as I do it regardless of what it is. Sometimes when I start making a meal, half way through I will decide that I want to try something different. Thankfully as of yet (knock on wood) I haven’t had a bad dish yet, I hope it stays that way ;)