Liferay Portal

I am trying to use Liferay Shopping Cart portlet with a project I am working and I am a little lost. What we want to happen is a hover over effect on the show cart link which will pull the shopping cart portlet via Ajax call. Is this possible? It seems to retrieve the shopping cart you need to be in a portlet and my link is in the theme. Also, would would be the best way to add items to the cart via Flex?

Any help is greatly appreciated.