Now we're cooking

[blwings]

Lila Mae listens to the sporadic summons, listens to the news reports of WCAM, the red brake lights smoldering on the road ahead. Each of the announcer's words have the routine elegance, the blank purity Lila Mae associates with geometry. The announcer says that a low-pressure system is rolling east. The announcer says that there's been an accident at the Fanny Briggs Memorial Building. An elevator has fallen. Now we're cooking.

This is from The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. I wonder what does "Now we're cooking" mean here?

 

[emsr2d2]

The original phrase (in BrE, at least) is "Now we're cooking with gas!" You can read more here.

 

[probus]

That's the original in AmE too, but nowadays it's often shortened by omitting "with gas".

 

[probus]

@blwings. Good grief, that was buried way WAY down deep in the article. A short excerpt would have been a better, more considerate choice on your part.