1 hour of my time = $4.95

I made Pho. Total low rent Pho. I used bouillon in it. If it would have turned out badly, I would have blamed it all on the stock cube, but luckily there is no blame to place. It turned out perfectly.
Initially, I was going to make a beef salad. I had marinated the steak in black bean chili sauce and sweet soy sauce. When I changed my plan to Pho, I took it out of the marinade and sliced it super thin. For the broth, I put in some chicken stock, water and a beef stock cube. I crushed some garlic and big chunks of onion and threw it in the pot with star anise, cloves and peppercorns (black and white).

I let it reduce by half. Put all of my ingredients into a bowl; the noodles, cilantro, basil, mint (I had it, so why not), onion slices and the beef and strained that wonderful broth on top of it all. It really worked. The flavors were right. The look of it was dead on. Now that I know the right flavors, I am going to try it without the bouillon and with actual bones. Nothing beats a homemade broth.
Not to toot my own anything, but I would much rather have the pho that I made then go sit somewhere on the Ave and have a mediocre dining experience.