I set up the beginnings of my first Node app this past weekend with Express, Stylus + Nib, and Handlebars (plus nodemon and livereload, though I think I may need to add a little Grunt + regarde to get the most out of livereload). Very enjoyable to get started with, and there are plenty of other solid options for your stack if those selections aren't to your liking. [Feel free to email me if you want another Node newbie for discussion.]