Beyond the known changes such as no computers or most kitchen conveniences, the Campuses are still surprised by what few technological conveniences are available to them especially at the beginning of the week but how much they admire the style to look at. The other big challenges for them for the entire week will be fulfilling the stereotypical gender roles in the household - Aaron who usually does most of the household cooking - which is made all the more difficult for Tristan in having to look pretty in her high heeled shoes while doing that cooking, and eating together as a family. They will find that the beginning of the week - the war years - is more difficult with food rations, most of the higher quality food products being sent overseas to feed the troops, leaving what one in western society today would generally consider unwanted pieces of animals what is left for the home dinner table, if there was animal protein at all, and that food cannot be thrown in the garbage if an ... Written by Huggo

Going into the 1950s, the Campuses anticipate that the gender roles from the previous decade remain which means Tristan will still be alone in the kitchen much of the time, that they will still be eating dinner together as a family around the formal dining room table, but that the mood will be much lighter and happier than it was the previous decade. While all these things are true, that latter item for Tristan is tempered when she learns that there is an extra expectation on her to keep the appearance of the perfect house just in case anyone should stop by unexpectedly. Beyond the manual, Tristan is provided an extra guide to ensure she does do what the 1950s housewife was expected to do. As the decade progresses, things will arguably get easier for Tristan in the kitchen. First, middle class families would occasionally go out for dinner, often to Chinese-Canadian restaurants, which belied the racism that still existed exhibited by the middle class suburbs being predominantly white. ... Written by Huggo

Walking into the house for the first time, the Campuses can immediately tell that the 1960s will be lighter and more fun, which it will be to reflect the more open attitudes that emerge. Tristan is still stuck in the kitchen - at least in the beginning of the decade - but will have a new cooking guide in the form of Julia Child, who brought gourmet French food, previously solely the domain of swanky restaurants, into the home kitchen. Tristan will also have more help in the form of what she's used to in modern day: processed foods to enable cooking short cuts, including the space aged mashed potato flakes. By mid-decade, Italian became the new food trend with the onset of what is now considered the go to dinners of pasta or pizza. The end result of these food changes is that Tristan will now have more time to spend with the family in more fun pursuits. Fashion and style of the decade is influenced by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and The Beatles. The Campus kids move from the 1950s ... Written by Huggo

The 1970s will be a first, at least for Aaron and Tristan, as a decade which they originally did live through, and can remember. Cool is a word they all use to describe the style at least of their house. With much uncertainty in the world, the home became a person's sanctuary, and there was the want for comfort, even in food with the rise of the slow cooker. With women starting to go to work, men started to assist in domestic duties, although under the guidance of the wife. The working wife also led to the rise of latch-key kids, who were often left with convenience foods - such as instant mac and cheese - as an easy to make after school snack. One of the most well-remembered events of the early 1970s was the 1972 Canada-Russia summit series, which turned out not only to be a measure of hockey supremacy, but a geopolitical gauge of the supremacy of democracy versus communism. The federal policy of multiculturalism led in part to great immigration, resulting in a more ethnically ... Written by Huggo

The Campuses enter their home for the first time this decade to find the décor is all glass, brass and lacquer to reflect the new prosperity and openness of the era, that prosperity especially by who will be coined yuppies, the more affluent of the baby boomers. For the first time in the experiment, Tristan is banished from the kitchen in the preparation of the first meal, it, iconic to females of the time, which will ironically be prepared by the males. Men in the kitchen does not mean that the women's domestic duties were usurped. The new sense of adventure, which extended to cooking gourmet at home with more and more kitchen gadgets and people getting new ideas from cooking classes, was balanced by a new health trend as baby boomers were approaching the middle age bulge, that health both in diet and exercise. The former includes meatless meals with the use of non-animal protein ingredients such as tofu. The latter saw the onset of aerobics for women, and pumping iron for men, both ... Written by Huggo

The Campuses enter the last decade of the experiment to find their house is designed for comfort and relaxation as people begin to see their homes as their sanctuary. Domestic gods and goddesses populating the airwaves, people like Martha Stewart, show how to entertain at home in style and with flair, a small dinner party which Tristan and Aaron will be hosting for a small group of friends for their first meal of the decade. Part of that do it yourself entertaining includes the boom in wine making shops. More prepared foods and packaged foods come on the market and all you can eat buffets become popular to make life easier for the diverse family, who begin to go off in different directions in their scheduled activities. Those domestic entertaining lifestyle shows are just part of the information overload that begin with 24-hour news channels, home computers and the Internet, the combination which kept people plugged into such events as the O.J. Simpson white SUV chase. As the ... Written by Huggo