Raspberry Pi small, affordable hardware platform
Node.js the language you most love to hate now lives outside the browser
Express the most consistent and stable web framework for node, like Ruby's Sinatra
CoffeeScript smooths over some of the js warts, but be sure to really learn js first, mmmkay?
Jade whitespace-significant templating language, a la Ruby's Haml
Jasmine bdd testing framework for js
Sequelize sql orm, with backends for mysql, postgres, sqlite -- I don't love this library
SQLite great for small, embedded applications
Underscore functional programming support, never write js without it
Async tame async callback spaghetti
Moment work with js dates like a pro
Passport authenticate to just about any popular oauth api
Twitter Bootstrap front-end framework with grid, buttons, form styling, icons, and more