My Grandparents, Leon and Rose Jordens, were married in St. Hubert, Saskatchewan on November 28th 1923 and raised their family of 12 children on their little farm house. Grandpa Jordens had 15 brothers and sisters and Grandma (nee Bellehumeur) was an only child. After many hard years of farming, Grandma and Grandpa moved to the west coast and began a new life on Vancouver Island. Many of their children followed, while some stayed or moved to other provinces. So as a child growing up family gatherings were sure to include an abundance of aunts, uncles, cousins, music, homemade breads, buns, pickles, beets, and plates of mouthwatering goodies. Maybe even a lively card game of barouche! It seemed that each aunt had her own special knack for some of Grandma's recipe, and when the family got together everyone usually brought one of those dishes. We knew who made the best of what! Even at today's family functions it's always exciting to remember those old family recipes and wonder (and hope) which ones will be waiting on the buffet table to be shared! That buffet table at one of my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary, a few years back, is what inspired me to put together Apron Strings and Family Ties - The Jordens' Family Cookbook. I listened as my cousins filled their plates with cabbage rolls, homemade buns, beets, pickles, yummy treats, and pork and beans, as they wandered around saying they wished they had that recipe or asked who made this. I watched as little ones crawled around and played; some cousins I never even met before, and it made me sad that our family get-togethers were so far and few in between. I knew that one day we could lose a lot of these old family recipes! So, I wanted to help share and keep them alive. Of course this was a lot harder than I even imagined; contacting people, collecting recipes, pictures, and information. Although many of the recipes may have originated from Grandma Jordens and tasted exactly the same today as they did back then, some tasted slightly different because of an added ingredient or tweak over the years. I was getting many submissions for the same recipe but with slightly different ingredients. Maybe it was how a family member remembered their Mom's recipe, or they just wanted to add their own unique flavour. Either way the recipes sounded and tasted delicious! Now what was I going to do with any profit that come out of selling the cook book? The Jordens family has lost five brothers and sisters over the years because of cancer, along with other family members who have survived from cancer. Because of this I decided to donate any profit made from Apron Strings and Family Ties - The Jordens' Family Cookbook to the Canadian Cancer Society in memory of my Mom, our aunts, uncles, and most of all Grandma and Grandpa Jordens. I hope that everyone enjoys our old traditional family recipes that began with Grandma Jordens, along with the many new family traditional recipes. Family ties hold tight with love, laughter, singing and cooking together! Tie up your apron strings and cook with your children! Melody Gray