The only trouble with this is that trivial applications tend to only give a superficial feel for the framework and aren't representative of a "real" development

The only trouble with this is that trivial applications tend to only give a superficial feel for the framework and aren't representative of a "real" development experience. For example, I wrote a trivial application in Flask. Python's Flask, while it looks great on the surface and has fantastic documentation, rapidly becomes unwieldy in the face of more complex problems. The same is true for Ruby on Rails. Most frameworks almost feel like they're tuned to solve these basic problems and give a fantastic first impression that doesn't sustain. Developing a complete project in each is a better way to move forward IMHO.