Was your umbilical cord attached to a computer when you were born? It may sound like a strange statement, but the truth is that some of us think that. Especially if you happen to be in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes and there is no telephone or Internet for ten days.

That having been said, let's travel and eat around the world, sponsored by our traditional food blog round-up:

#1: From Argentina

Beginning with a description backed up by the Argentinian Food Code, Error del Sistema shares his favorite recipe to prepare traditional Argentinian Alfajores de chocolate y dulce de leche (Chocolate – Dulce de Leche Alfajores from Argentina.) I am not sure why, but it is very true that most of the time people are intimidated by the making of these delicious cookies. Just give it a try, come on…, you will learn that they are not as difficult as you thought, besides the point is that you can add as much dulce de leche as you want!

#2: From Italy

If you are looking for a place in Rome where you can eat three meals a day for free and at the same time meet very interesting people, you are going to love this post. Christopher comments about "Christian Charity: The Other Roman Vacation," the article he wrote for Vice Italy.

#3: From Chile

Visit CoBe, by Daniel Greve,  and you will have an amazing opportunity to experience the food from Chile at its highest point of expression. Pick your favorite among: Cevichisimo (Ceviche Mania), restaurant review: Sukalde, Mas alla del Sushi (Beyond Sushi), and Catar, Catar (wine tasting adventures.)

#4: From Spain

Cannella hosted an international San Valentine's virtual party, and the delicious round-up is here. She was the winner of the New Year's dinner recipe & photo swap. If you cooked  something delicious on February 14 and blogged about it,  we invite you to send her the link to your post, your name and the name of your blog, so she can add you to the round-up.

Learn about the stinkiest cheese in human history: the Epoi. Directo Al Paladar shares details on the origins and invites all with a nose-of-steel and a love for cheese to try it.

#5: From Turkey

Yogurt Land writes about  Su Boregi, or Turkish Lasagna. The recipe is her aunt’s specialty; she rolls and cooks the dough, and later bakes it. In order to even try making this recipe you need to know how to roll the dough thin — when I mean thin, I mean about 1 – 2 mm thin. In Turkey it is customary to use straight rolling pins. As you roll the dough around the pin, you push down on the dough and roll at the same time, moving your hands to travel from the mid section of the dough to the sides. This way you will achieve thin dough.

#6: From The Philippines

Quick'n’ Easy Treats from Zu's Kitchen prepared some great and delicious looking Sushi Balls for dinner. She claims that she ran out of ideas and that the sushi balls were the result of the project. Wow! Just imagine for a moment what would she prepare when the inspiration strikes!!!

#7: From New Zealand, via DC Fud.

Have you heard of Earthy Cooking? It’s a sobering moment when you realize that no matter how extreme your saute, how crazy your roasting, and how freaky your flambe, you will never be as hardcore as people who cook with an active volcano! Are you ready to try?

On The Farm shares a gorgeous photo of the first porcini of the summer from his garden. He also writes about the most expensive pizza in the world: with truffles!

#8: From Australia

Noodle Cook demonstrates how to prepare the delicious Banana Fosters with a video and a great recipe.

#9: From Korea

This  post is  dedicated to all  of the  sugar addicts and Krispy Kreme fans.  I would have never imagined that  those little yummy devils could be even more sweet than how they are in the US. Do you agree with me? Well, there's some news for us: we are so wrong. If the mega companies that make anti-cavities tooth paste, and the labs that manufacture weight loss pills are behind this marketing strategy, I do not know. But, this is what I know now:

At any bakery in Korea, the only non-sweet bread is the stale baguette in the corner. Even the garlic bread is sweetened. Almost all pizzas are served with sweet corn or sweet potatoes along with a side of sweet pickles. The sweet pickles come with almost every sit down Western meal, whether it be Outback, TGI Friday's, or a local fancy steakhouse. Sandwiches have to have some sweet fruit sauce, honey mustard, and sometimes — gasp — strawberries. All mustard is honey mustard. Sweet ketchup is considered an elegant exotic sauce, which is thrown on the oddest things. Steaks come smothered in a sweet brown sauce, as do hot dogs. Even the scant Mexican food I find tastes like a cup of sugar was thrown in the sauce.

Dunkin’ Donuts is one of the most successful foreign fast food chains in Korea. On casual glance, it looks far more successful than McDonald's. Yet when I first came to Korea, I saw there were no Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Thank you ZenKimchi for the report!

#10: From Japan, via BunnyFoot in San Francisco

Amazake is sneaking it's way into the American culinary consciousness. You may have seen little bottles of the stuff lurking in the refrigerated section of your local health food store, all cozied up next to the spirulina and camel dung health drinks. You know what I'm talking about, those little shakes that use amazake as a base along with nuts, fruits and various flavorings. They're thick, creamy, sweet and, of course, expensive.

Learn how to prepare this cooked grain beverage inoculated with aspergillus oryzae in the form of koji and allowed to ferment. The most interesting part of this process is that indeed, it is the first step in sake making (and miso and shoyu, and shochu too!)

Head over to their blog to learn more about this fascinating process.

Feliz Carnaval! See you soon!