Pour water over oats and allow to sit for half hour. Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs and vanilla. In a large bowl, toss pears with flour, mix in soda, salt, spices and nuts. Fold in oatmeal and egg mixture until thoroughly blended. Pour into greased and floured baking pan. Bake at 180ºC or 35 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool. Serve with whipped topping. La Mesa, California MasterCook formatted by Martha Hicks using Buster & Note Tab Pro 0.11224489795918