humming (as in operating or functioning particularly smoothly or effectively) idiom cooking with gas

[This phrase derives from the suggestion, heavily advertised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that stoves using natural gas as a fuel cook more effectively than wood-burning or electric stoves.]  The problem with new ideas about feminism is that there has been so little public discussion of the subject. Well, that’s changing, big time — if not in fashion at least in the art world.  In fact, after it seemed as though the subject of feminism had been put on simmer, the art world is cooking with gas again, not just for a new generation of feminist artists but in retrospect too. (Ingrid Sischy, “Body Politic,” The New York Times, 02/25/2007.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for functioning, operating, working or performing.