At the beginning of the year, to celebrate the Year of the Boar, I vowed to eat as much pork as humanly possible for the next 12 months. While I'm sure that I have not ingested quite as much as "humanly possible," I have been packing pig away. Since the first three months of the year have drawn to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to check in on some accomplishments from the first quarter.

In January, my partner in many pork matters, Dawn, and I adopted an entire lomo (cured pork loin) from Salumi (309 Third Ave S, 621-8772). Tony Lomo, as we like to call him, is half dark-rose-colored meat, half beautiful white fat, and 100 percent delicious. I try to eat a few slices of lomo every week, often with a sliver of pecorino cheese. Last month, for my mother's 60th birthday, my family ordered an entire roasted pig from Kau Kau Barbecue Market (656 S King St, 682-4006) and ate our way through it over the course of a weekend. I am proud to say I ate a fair amount of crispy skin. I also discovered an amazing barbecue pork dish at Kawon Korean Restaurant (15004 Highway 99, Suite A, Lynnwood, 425-787-6484)—thin-sliced ribs of "black pig" (which they claim is "sweeter"—it certainly tastes "porkier") served sizzling with onions and fresh jalapeños. It's fantastic. Onward and oinkward....